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Corn Relish

A pickled relish made from corn, onions, peppers, cabbage, and spices, boiled and bottled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Corn Relish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the corn, onions, green peppers, red pepper, and cabbage finely.

  2. Mix the chopped ingredients with 3 pints of cider vinegar.

  3. Bring the mixture to a boil.

Cook and bottle

  1. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, turmeric, sugar, salt, mustard, and seeds with 1 pint of vinegar.

  2. Pour this mixture over the boiling vegetables and vinegar.

  3. Boil for 30 minutes.

  4. Bottle while hot.

Rest

  1. Let it sit for 2 weeks before using.

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 + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 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 + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Pepper + cabbagetop 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
Provides sweetness and crisp texture in the chopped vegetable mixture.
Cabbage
Adds bulk and a firm, crunchy texture that holds up during boiling.
Cider vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the relish and sharpens its flavor.
Sugar
Balances the sharp acidity of the vinegar and adds sweetness.
Flour
Thickens the cooking liquid so the relish becomes saucy rather than watery.
Mustard seed
Contributes pungent, sharp flavor that deepens during cooking.

The step that matters

Pour the flour and spice mixture over the boiling vegetables. Flour mixed into cold vinegar can clump, so it must be whisked smooth first; adding it to boiling liquid then needs steady stirring so it thickens evenly without lumps or scorching on the bottom of the pot.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Lettucefits better
  2. Horseradishfits better
  3. Broccolifits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against corn, pepper, cabbage, flour, sugar, mustard, celery. 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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