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Superior Catsup

A tomato-based condiment seasoned with salt, allspice, sugar, cloves, and optional vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Superior Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Slice the tomatoes.

  2. Boil them for 15 minutes or until tender.

  3. Strain the tomatoes through a fine sieve.

Make the ketchup

  1. Add salt, allspice, sugar, and cloves to the strained tomatoes.

  2. Cook the mixture slowly in a porcelain-lined kettle until it reduces to half the quantity.

  3. If desired, add 3 white onions and 1 cup of vinegar just before bottling for a sourer taste.

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + tomatotop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,474 recipes

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

  3. Allspice + tomatotop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together670 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Allspice + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  5. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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, flavour and pulp that the ketchup is built from.
Salt
Seasons the sauce and helps draw out flavour from the tomatoes.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the acidity of the tomatoes and vinegar.
Vinegar
Adds acidity for a sharper taste and helps preserve the sauce.

The step that matters

Cook the mixture slowly until it reduces by half. Slow cooking lets water evaporate gently, thickening the sauce and concentrating its flavour without scorching the sugars and tomato solids. Heating too fast can burn the bottom of the pan and spoil the taste.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (allspice, sugar, clove, vinegar):

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Horseradishfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against allspice, sugar, clove, vinegar. 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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