Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 14,189 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Tomato Sauce.— I
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the vegetables
Cover the tomatoes with boiling water and remove the skins.
Peel the onions.
Remove the seeds from the peppers.
Chop the onions and peppers finely.
Make the sauce
Add the chopped onions and peppers to the cut-up tomatoes.
Cook gently until tender.
Pass the mixture through a sieve.
Return it to the saucepan.
Add vinegar, sugar, salt, and spices.
Cook for 10 to 15 minutes.
Bottle in sterilized jars and seal.
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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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together6,038 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
-
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned 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
- Provide the main body, moisture and tart flavour of the sauce.
- Onions
- Add savoury depth and aroma as they soften during gentle cooking.
- Green peppers
- Add a fresh, slightly bitter vegetable flavour and some body to the sauce.
- Sugar
- Balances the acidity of the tomatoes and vinegar and rounds out the flavour.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and helps preserve it for bottling.
The step that matters
Pass the mixture through a sieve. Cooked tomato and pepper pulp contains seeds and fibrous skin that must be removed, otherwise the sauce stays grainy and uneven in texture.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, pepper, sugar, cinnamon, clove, ginger, vinegar):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Carrotbetter flavor fit
- Sweet potatobetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, pepper, sugar, cinnamon, clove, ginger, vinegar. 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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