Why it works: Tomato and garlic are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,076 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓
Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Open the can of tomatoes and simmer them gently for 45 minutes.
Season with salt, cayenne, bruised garlic, and a pinch of mace.
Press the mixture through a fine sieve.
In a clean, hot saucepan, combine the tomato pulp with butter rolled in flour.
Stir continuously to prevent burning until the sauce thickens.
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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Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,076 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Clove + macetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,400 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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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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Pepper + garlictop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,090 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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, acidity and flavour of the sauce.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the finished sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce as it heats, giving it body.
The step that matters
Stir continuously while the sauce thickens. Flour-thickened sauces scorch easily on the base of the pan. Constant stirring spreads the heat evenly and keeps the flour dispersed, so the sauce thickens smoothly without burning.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, pepper, clove, garlic, butter, flour):
- Thymefits better
- Cuminfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, pepper, clove, garlic, 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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