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Sauce

Ripe Gooseberry Catsup

A sauce made from gooseberries, vinegar, brown sugar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Ripe Gooseberry Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine gooseberries, vinegar, brown sugar, and spices in a pot.

  2. Cook over medium heat for one hour, stirring occasionally.

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. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Gooseberries
Provide the main fruit body and tartness that forms the ketchup.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens flavor and helps preserve the ketchup.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and depth, and helps thicken the mixture as it cooks down.

The step that matters

Cooking over medium heat with occasional stirring. Gooseberries are rich in pectin and sugars that can scorch on the bottom of the pot. Stirring regularly and keeping the heat moderate lets the mixture reduce evenly and thicken without burning.

“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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