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Chili Sauce
12 medium-sized ripe tomatoes 1 pepper, finely chopped 1 onion, finely chopped 2 cups vinegar 3 tablespoons sugar 1 tablespoon salt 2 teaspoons clove 2 teaspoons cinnamon 2 teaspoons allspice 2 teaspoons grated nutmeg Peel tomatoes and slice. Put in a preserving kettle with remaining ingredients. Heat gradually to boiling-point, and cook slowly two and one-half hours.
A long-simmered tomato condiment of the ketchup family, thickened by evaporation rather than by any starch or pectin. The recipe gives no processing or sealing directions, which shapes how it should be stored.
- Preserving kettleThis means a wide, heavy, non-reactive pan — enamelled or stainless, never bare cast iron or aluminium, which the vinegar will pit and discolour. Width matters more than depth, since the whole point of the two and a half hours is evaporation.
- The pepper"1 pepper" in an American book of this period most likely means a green bell pepper rather than a hot chilli, though period recipes vary. The name "chili sauce" generally denotes a style of spiced tomato relish rather than a promise of heat; add a fresh chilli only if you want one.
- Peeling the tomatoesCut a shallow cross in the base, drop into boiling water for 20-30 seconds, then into cold water and the skins slip off. Twelve medium tomatoes is roughly 3 to 4 lb, depending on size.
- Spice loadTwo teaspoons each of clove, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg is assertive by current taste, and ground clove in particular dominates as the sauce reduces. Halving the clove and nutmeg gives a result closer to modern expectations; the whole spices tied in muslin, then removed, is gentler still.
- Heat graduallyThe instruction is deliberate. Tomato solids sink and scorch on a fast burner, and scorched clove cannot be rescued. Bring it up slowly, then hold at a bare simmer and stir the bottom every 15 minutes or so.
- Judging the finishTwo and a half hours is a guide, not a rule — it depends on pan width and how watery the tomatoes are. Stop when a spoon drawn through the pan leaves a track that closes slowly, and the surface no longer weeps thin liquid.
- Yield and storageExpect about 1 1/2 to 2 pints. No sealing or processing is described here, so treat it as a fresh refrigerator condiment: cool, jar, refrigerate, use within a few weeks. If you want it shelf-stable, follow a current tested water-bath canning recipe rather than this one.