Why it works: Tomato and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 17,913 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Also mentioned in the method: flour
Directions
Make the sauce
Pare and stew a quart of ripe tomatoes until smooth.
Season with salt, pepper and a tablespoonful of butter.
When done, add one cup sweet cream and a little flour.
Let it scald, but not boil; remove at once.
Serve
Pour over slices of dipped toast, well buttered.
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. See the original page.
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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Tomato + peppertop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together17,913 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cream + buttertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together41,494 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Tomato + buttertop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together6,890 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Butter + peppertop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together85,512 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Cream + peppertop 13% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together21,446 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream and pepper share little aroma chemistry, yet 21,446 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ripe tomatoes
- Provide the main body and flavour of the sauce when stewed until smooth.
- Sweet cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, creamy body to the sauce.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a rounded, savoury flavour.
- Flour (in the method)
- Lightly thickens the sauce so it coats the toast.
The step that matters
Scalding the cream without boiling. Bringing the cream just to scalding, then removing it at once, keeps it from curdling or thickening unevenly and preserves its smooth texture.
“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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