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Sauce

French Catsup

A thick tomato sauce made with onions, spices, salt, sugar, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and clove 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 ↓

French Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the onions very finely.

Cook

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large pot.

  2. Boil the mixture until it thickens.

Store

  1. Store in a 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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  3. Clove + peppertop 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. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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 catsup, providing body, liquid and tangy flavor as they break down.
Onions
Add savory depth and aroma, and their pulp helps thicken the mixture as it cooks.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharp vinegar and salt.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that gives the catsup its tang and helps preserve it.

The step that matters

Boil the mixture until it thickens. Long simmering evaporates water and concentrates the tomatoes, onions and sugar into a thick sauce. Stopping too early leaves it thin and watery, while overcooking can scorch the sugars on the bottom of the pot.

Swap the onion

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

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

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