Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 7,874 recipes mention both. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the sauce
If using fresh tomatoes, stew them with the spices for 20 minutes.
If using cooked tomatoes, heat them thoroughly.
Pass the mixture through a fine wire sieve to remove seeds.
Finish and serve
Add sugar, salt, and pepper.
Mix flour and butter to a cream, then add to the sauce.
Boil the sauce for a moment while stirring continuously, then serve.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together6,395 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + clovetop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,474 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce when mixed with butter and stirred in.
- Butter
- Mixed with flour to form a cream that smooths the sauce and adds richness.
- Sugar
- Balances the acidity of the tomatoes with sweetness.
- Tomatoes
- Form the base of the sauce, providing body and tomato flavour.
The step that matters
Adding the flour and butter cream. Flour lumps easily if added directly to hot liquid. Mixing it smooth with butter first and stirring while the sauce boils lets the starch disperse and thicken evenly.
Flavor stand-ins for the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, flour, butter, sugar, allspice, pepper):
- Cinnamonbetter flavor fit
- Nutmegabout as good a flavor fit
- Thymeabout as good a flavor fit
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, flour, butter, sugar, allspice, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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