Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and 124,287 recipes mention both. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Tomato Sauce II
Ingredients
Directions
Make the tomato base
Cook the tomatoes with sugar, peppercorns, bay leaf, and salt for twenty minutes.
Strain the mixture to remove solids and add the brown stock.
Make the roux and combine
Brown the butter.
Add the flour and cook until well browned.
Gradually add the hot tomato mixture to the browned butter and flour.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Tomato + buttertop 22% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together6,918 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Tomato + flourtop 22% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together7,065 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 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
- Tomatoes
- Provide the main body and acidic tomato flavour of the sauce.
- Butter
- Adds richness and, once browned, a nutty aroma to the base.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce when cooked with the butter and then combined with the liquid.
- Brown stock
- Adds savoury depth and liquid to the sauce.
The step that matters
Adding the hot tomato mixture to the browned butter and flour. Adding the liquid gradually while stirring keeps the flour mixture smooth and prevents lumps. Pouring it in all at once can cause the roux to clump and resist thickening evenly.
“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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