Why it works: Pepper and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 17,923 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Pâte Rouge
Ingredients
Directions
Bring 2 1/2 cups water to a rolling boil.
Add 1 1/2 cups corn flour slowly while stirring it vigorously with a wire whisk until all the lumps are out and it starts to become thick.
Sauté sliced onion in oil with salt, then add chopped tomatoes and sauté briefly.
This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
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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Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together20,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together68,474 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 flour (in the method)
- Starch that thickens the boiling water as it gelatinizes, giving the paste its body.
- Diced onions
- Sweetness and aroma as they soften and brown in oil.
- Tomato paste
- Concentrated flavor, acidity and deep color in the finished paste.
The step that matters
Adding the corn flour to boiling water. Corn flour clumps when it hits hot liquid unevenly. Adding it slowly while whisking vigorously disperses the starch granules before they swell, so the paste thickens smoothly without lumps.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, tomato):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Eggplantbetter flavor fit
- Carrotbetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, tomato. 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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