Why it works: Cinnamon and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,581 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
Wash and slice the tomatoes.
Cook the tomatoes slowly until well done.
Rub the cooked tomatoes through a fine sieve.
Make the sauce
In a pot, combine the sieved tomatoes, vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, salt, mustard, and the bell pepper with cuts in it.
Cook the mixture down to one-fourth of its original quantity.
Bottle the sauce while hot.
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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Cinnamon + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,581 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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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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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cinnamon + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together4,890 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ripe tomatoes
- Provide the main body and flavor of the sauce once cooked and sieved.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that gives the sauce its tang and helps preserve it.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the acidity of the vinegar and tomatoes.
- Bell pepper
- Adds vegetable flavor and body to the sauce as it cooks down.
The step that matters
Cook the mixture down to one-fourth of its original quantity.. Reducing the sauce concentrates its flavor and thickens it through evaporation. Stopping too early leaves it thin and watery, while cooking too long can scorch the sugars and sticking solids on the bottom of the pot.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, mustard, pepper):
- Horseradishfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Radishfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, mustard, pepper. 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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