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Sauce

Chili Sauce

A tomato-based sauce with onions, peppers, vinegar, spices, simmered for an hour and stored in jars.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Chili Sauce

about 3 quarts

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the onions and green pepper finely.

  2. Combine all ingredients in a large pot.

Cook

  1. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat.

  2. Simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Store

  1. Cool and store in jars; this makes about 3 quarts.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 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

Tomatoes
Form the bulk of the sauce and provide its body and liquid as they break down.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the sauce its tang and helps keep it stable in storage.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharp acidity of the vinegar and tomatoes.
Onions
Provide savory depth and body as they soften during the simmer.
Peppers
Contribute heat and fresh vegetable flavor to the sauce.
Cinnamon
Adds warm aromatic spice notes that give the sauce its characteristic flavor.

The step that matters

Simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. As the sauce reduces and thickens, its sugars can scorch and stick to the bottom of the pot. Regular stirring keeps the heat even, prevents burnt flavors, and helps the sauce cook down evenly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, pepper, vinegar, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, clove):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Sweet potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, pepper, vinegar, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, clove. 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.

More chili sauce recipes

Tomato 14Green Tomato 4Raw 3Sweet 3 See all 392 →

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