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Tomato Catsup

A thick tomato condiment made by simmering tomatoes with spices and vinegar, then bottled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice 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 ↓

Tomato Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the ketchup

  1. Simmer the tomatoes, salt, black pepper, mustard, ground cloves, allspice, green peppers, and sharp vinegar for 4 hours.

  2. Strain the mixture through a coarse strainer.

  3. Add the brandy and sugar to the strained mixture.

Bottle and rest

  1. Bottle the catsup and add a bit of mace or 3 whole cloves to each bottle.

  2. Let it stand uncovered overnight.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Mustard + allspicetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 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 bulk of the ketchup and provide its main body and flavor.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the acidity of the vinegar and tomatoes.
Sharp vinegar
Adds acidity that gives the ketchup its tang and helps preserve it.
Brandy
Adds aroma and a warm, rich flavor to the finished sauce.

The step that matters

Simmer the tomatoes for 4 hours. A long, gentle simmer breaks down the tomatoes and evaporates excess water, thickening the sauce and concentrating its flavor. Too short a simmer leaves it thin and watery.

Swap the tomato

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

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

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