Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Scald the tomatoes and rub them through a sieve.
Make the sauce
In a pot, combine 1 pint of tomato juice, butter, salt, pepper, beaten eggs, soaked bread crumbs, and sliced onion.
Stew over low heat for 1 to 2 hours.
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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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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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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Tomato + breadtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,013 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomatoes
- Provide the main body and flavor of the sauce.
- Eggs
- Help thicken the sauce as they set during the long stew.
- Bread crumbs
- Soak up liquid and add body to the sauce.
- Milk
- Adds creaminess and softens the sauce's texture.
The step that matters
Stew over low heat for 1 to 2 hours. Low, slow heat keeps the eggs from curdling or scorching on the bottom of the pot while the sauce thickens gradually.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, butter, pepper, egg, bread, milk):
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatofits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, butter, pepper, egg, bread, milk. 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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