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Tomato Catsup

A tomato-based sauce made by stewing tomatoes with salt, red pepper, onions, and cloves, then reducing and storing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Tomato Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Break up the tomatoes and stew them until soft enough to strain through a colander.

  2. After straining, add salt, red pepper, and onions to the tomatoes.

  3. Boil the mixture until it reduces to a half gallon.

  4. When nearly done, stir in ground cloves.

Store

  1. Store in a closely corked and sealed container.

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. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

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

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

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

  4. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Tomato + clovetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Form the bulk of the sauce, and their pectin and water thicken it as they stew and reduce.
Salt
Seasons the sauce and helps draw out moisture and preserve it.
Red pepper
Adds heat and sharp flavor that balances the sweetness of the tomatoes.
White onions
Add savory depth and body to the sauce as they soften and cook down.
Ground cloves
Contribute a warm, aromatic spice flavor to the finished ketchup.

The step that matters

Boiling down to a half gallon. Reduction concentrates the sugars, acids and solids while evaporating water, so the ketchup thickens. Boiling too little leaves it thin, while overcooking can scorch the sugars and give a bitter taste.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Eggplantfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, pepper, clove. 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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