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Sauce

Tomato Catsup

A spiced tomato condiment made from chopped tomatoes, onions, vinegar and seasonings, cooked, strained and bottled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 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 catsup

  1. Combine the chopped tomatoes, coarse sea salt, ground black pepper, celery seed, minced onions, cloves, garlic, allspice, ground ginger, cinnamon, prepared mustard and vinegar in a large pot.

  2. Boil the mixture for about 2 hours, or until well cooked.

  3. Press the cooked mixture through a colander to remove solids.

Bottle and seal

  1. Bottle the liquid.

  2. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to each bottle.

  3. Cork the bottles tightly.

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. Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  4. Allspice + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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 liquid and provide the main flavour and body of the catsup.
Onions
Add savoury sweetness and depth as they cook down into the mixture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and helps preserve the catsup.
Garlic
Contributes pungent aroma that mellows during the long simmer.
Prepared mustard
Adds sharp tang and emulsifying compounds that support the sauce's flavour.
Olive oil
Forms a thin layer on top of each bottle, adding fat and a glossy finish.

The step that matters

Boil until well cooked. Long simmering evaporates water and concentrates the tomatoes, softening solids so they press through easily and the sauce thickens. Undercooking leaves it thin and rough.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, pepper, celery, clove, garlic, allspice, ginger. 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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