Why it works: Tomato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,633 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Empty the tomatoes into a saucepan with the sliced onion.
Add the salt and peppercorns, then boil for 10 minutes.
Moisten the cornflour with a little water, stir it in thoroughly, and add the vinegar.
Boil for 5 minutes longer.
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 + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,226 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Tomato + vinegartop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,063 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Peeled tomatoes
- Provide the main body and acidity of the sauce as they cook down.
- Cornflour
- Thickens the sauce as it heats with the liquid, giving it body.
- Spanish onion
- Adds savoury sweetness and aroma as it softens in the simmering tomatoes.
The step that matters
Stirring in the moistened cornflour. Cornflour must be fully dispersed in cold water before it goes in, otherwise it clumps. It thickens only when the sauce is hot enough, so the sauce needs to keep simmering after it is added.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, vinegar):
- Mustardfits better
- Cucumberfits better
- Radishfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against onion, vinegar. 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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