Skip to main content
Sauce

Gooseberry Catsup

A sweet and tart sauce made from gooseberries, vinegar, sugar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Gooseberry Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and stem the gooseberries.

  2. Combine all ingredients in a large pot.

Cook and finish

  1. Bring to a boil and simmer for two hours, stirring occasionally.

  2. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve to remove solids.

  3. Bottle and seal the catsup.

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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Nutmeg + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Gooseberries
Provide the bulk and tart acidity that forms the body of the ketchup.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and helps preserve the ketchup.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and depth, balancing the sharp acidity of the fruit and vinegar.
Cloves
Contribute warm, aromatic spice notes to the sauce.
Cinnamon
Contributes warm, sweet aroma and flavour to the sauce.
Allspice
Adds a warm, mixed-spice aroma that rounds out the flavour.

The step that matters

Simmer until thickened. Simmering for the full two hours lets water evaporate and the fruit soften and break down, which thickens the sauce. Stirring prevents sugar and fruit from scorching on the bottom of the pot.

“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.

You might also like

Wine Sauce (for stewed fruit)Wine Sauce (for stewed fruit)186 recipesCaper SauceCaper Sauce180 recipesBrown SauceBrown Sauce141 recipesDutch SauceDutch Sauce74 recipes