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Sauce

Tomato Soy

A preserved tomato and olive sauce with almonds, onions, and mayonnaise.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Tomato Soy

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Slice the tomatoes and onions.

  2. Add the other ingredients.

Cook and seal

  1. Put in a preserving kettle and stew until tender, stirring often.

  2. Put in jars and seal.

Store

  1. Keep for a month before using.

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.

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. Tomato + olivetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Olive + almondtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Onion + olivetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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, providing body and bright tomato flavor as they stew.
Onions
Add savory sweetness and aroma as they soften during stewing.
Ripe olives
Add briny, savory flavor that stands out against the tomato.
Blanched almonds
Add body and a mild nutty richness as they soften in the stew.
Red pepper
Adds sweetness and a touch of warmth to the sauce.
Mayonnaise
Adds fat and creaminess, giving the sauce a richer texture.

The step that matters

Stewing until tender, stirring often. Tomatoes and onions contain sugars that can scorch on the bottom of the pan. Frequent stirring keeps heat even and prevents burnt flavor while the mixture thickens.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, onion, olive, pepper):

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Black-eyed peafits better
  3. Chickpeafits better
  4. Almondthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, onion, olive, 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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