Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the tomatoes, garlic or onion, cayenne, parsley, bay leaf, clove, and thyme gently for 1 hour.
Strain the mixture and return it to the fire.
Roll the butter in the flour and stir it into the sauce.
Boil again, strain once more, and serve.
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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Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together4,108 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,585 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Tomato + thymetop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,370 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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 flavour of the sauce as they soften during gentle boiling.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the finished sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce slightly when rolled in butter and stirred in.
The step that matters
Rolling the butter in the flour and stirring it in. Flour needs to be fully incorporated and the sauce kept simmering so the starch can hydrate and thicken smoothly rather than forming lumps.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clove, pepper, parsley, thyme, butter, flour):
- Shallotfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Parsnipfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against clove, pepper, parsley, thyme, butter, flour. 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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