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Tomato Puree

A smooth tomato puree made by simmering tomatoes with stock, herbs, and sugar, then pureeing and seasoning.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Tomato Puree

Why it works: Parsley and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Tomato Puree

Ingredients

Directions

Make the tomato base

  1. Combine the tomatoes, brown stock, bay leaf, parsley, celery, and sugar in a saucepan and simmer thoroughly.

Make the onion roux

  1. Melt the butter in a sauté pan and add the onion, cooking until the onion is soft but not browned.

  2. Stir in the flour and mix well.

Combine and finish

  1. Combine the onion mixture with the tomatoes and season with salt and pepper.

  2. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve or strainer.

  3. Heat again and serve.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

  1. Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Canned tomatoes
Provide the main body and flavor of the puree.
Brown stock
Adds liquid and savory depth to the tomato base.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the onion mixture.
Flour
Thickens the mixture as it cooks with the butter and onion.
Sugar
Balances the acidity of the tomatoes with a touch of sweetness.

The step that matters

Cook the onion until soft but not browned. Browning the onion adds dark, bitter notes and changes the color and flavor of the puree. Gentle cooking softens the onion so it blends smoothly into the tomatoes.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, parsley, celery, sugar, butter, flour, pepper):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Okrafits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, parsley, celery, sugar, butter, flour, 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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