Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
In a pot, combine tomatoes, sugar, salt, ham or bacon fryings, pepper, and onion.
Boil for 20 minutes.
Strain the mixture and return it to the pot.
Thicken the sauce with cornstarch, stirring until smooth.
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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Ham + oniontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,159 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Tomato + hamtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together348 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomatoes
- Form the base of the sauce and provide its main body and acidity.
- Onion
- Adds savory aroma and body to the sauce as it simmers.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the sauce as it is stirred in, giving it a smooth, glossy body.
- Sugar
- Balances the tomatoes' acidity and adds gentle sweetness.
The step that matters
Thicken the sauce with cornstarch, stirring until smooth. Cornstarch clumps if added directly to hot liquid without being stirred in well. Stirring keeps it dispersed so it thickens evenly into a smooth sauce.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, sugar, ham, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, sugar, ham, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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