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Corn Relish

A pickled relish made from corn, cabbage, peppers, onions, sugar, mustard, turmeric, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and turmeric match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,279 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Corn Relish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove the kernels from the corn and chop the cabbage, peppers, and onions.

Cook and jar

  1. In a large pot, combine all the ingredients.

  2. Boil for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

  3. Pour into sterilized jars and seal.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Mustard + turmerictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,279 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Pepper + turmerictop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Corn
Adds sweetness, bulk, and a tender-crisp bite to the relish.
Cabbage
Provides bulk and a crisp texture that holds up during simmering.
Onions
Contributes savory aroma and depth as they soften and sweeten.
Peppers
Adds flavor, color, and some crunch to the mixture.
Sugar
Balances the vinegar's sharpness and adds sweetness.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that gives tang and helps preserve the relish.

The step that matters

Pour into sterilized jars and seal. Vinegar's acidity helps preserve the relish, but spoilage microbes can still grow if jars are not sterilized or sealed properly. Clean, sealed jars keep the acidic relish stable during storage.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (corn, cabbage, pepper, sugar, mustard, turmeric, vinegar):

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Cauliflowerfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against corn, cabbage, pepper, sugar, mustard, turmeric, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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