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
Make the sauce
In a hot saucepan, melt the butter until it begins to brown.
Add the chopped onion and fry until light brown.
Stir in the chopped tomatoes, breadcrumbs, salt, and pepper.
Let the mixture stew gently on the back of the stove for 1 hour.
Strain and finish
Strain through a medium-sized strainer into a hot saucepan or over the dish.
If desired, add a little stock before straining and add more breadcrumbs.
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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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + tomatotop 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).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomatoes
- Form the main body of the sauce and provide acidity and fresh flavour.
- Bread crumbs
- Thicken the sauce as they absorb liquid and soften during stewing.
- Onion
- Adds sweetness and savoury depth when fried until light brown.
- Butter
- Carries flavour and adds richness when melted and browned in the pan.
The step that matters
Let the mixture stew gently. Gentle, long simmering lets the tomatoes break down and the breadcrumbs swell and thicken the sauce evenly. A hard boil can scorch the bottom of the pan and make the sauce uneven.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, tomato, bread, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatofits better
- Carrotfits about as well
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, tomato, bread, 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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