Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 7,874 recipes mention both. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Geeex Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Sprinkle sliced tomatoes with coarse sea salt and press with a plate. Let drain for 24 hours.
In a porcelain kettle, layer the drained tomatoes with sliced onions and the mustard mixture.
Add mustard, mustard seed, ground cloves, ground black pepper, ground ginger, and ground allspice.
Cover with vinegar and simmer for 2 hours, or until the tomatoes look clear.
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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Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together6,038 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Ginger + allspicetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,620 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Mustard + allspicetop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,928 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, mustard, clove, pepper, ginger, allspice, vinegar):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Horseradishbetter flavor fit
- Shallotbetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, mustard, clove, pepper, ginger, allspice, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
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