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Tomato Catsup

A preserved tomato sauce made by boiling tomatoes, straining, seasoning, and adding vinegar, then stored in a jar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Tomato Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Cut a slit in the tomatoes.

  2. Place them in a metal or porcelain kettle.

  3. Boil until the juice is extracted and the pulp is dissolved.

  4. Strain and press through a colander.

  5. Press through a fine sieve.

  6. Return to the fire.

Cook

  1. Add the seasoning.

  2. Boil for five hours.

  3. Stir constantly for the last hour.

  4. Stir frequently throughout cooking.

Rest and season

  1. Let it stand for twelve hours in a stone jar in a cool place.

  2. When cold, add the strong vinegar.

  3. Remove the bag of celery seed.

Bottle and store

  1. Bottle the catsup.

  2. Seal the corks.

  3. Store in a dark, cool place.

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. Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Clove + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Form the main body and liquid base, breaking down into a smooth pulp as they cook.
Strong vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that balances the sweetness of the reduced tomato and helps preserve it.
Ground mustard
Contributes sharp pungency that gives the sauce its tangy bite.
Powdered cloves
Provides warm, aromatic spice notes that deepen the flavour of the sauce.
Mace
Adds a delicate, warm aroma that complements the tomato and other spices.

The step that matters

Stir constantly for the last hour. As water evaporates and the pulp thickens, sugars and solids concentrate near the bottom of the kettle and can scorch. Constant stirring spreads the heat evenly and keeps the sauce from burning.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, pepper, clove, mustard, celery, 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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