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Sauce

Cold Catsup

A chilled tomato-based sauce with onions, sugar, spices, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Cold Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the tomatoes and onions finely.

  2. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well until sugar and salt are dissolved.

Store

  1. Transfer to sterilized jars and seal tightly.

  2. Store in a cool place for at least 2 weeks before using.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  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. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  5. Celery + clovetop 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

Ripe tomatoes
Form the bulk of the ketchup and supply its main body and flavour.
Onions
Add savoury depth and aroma to the base.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the acidity of the vinegar.
Cider vinegar
Provides acidity that gives tang and helps preserve the uncooked sauce.
Horseradish
Contributes sharp, pungent heat that gives the ketchup its bite.

The step that matters

Store in a cool place for at least 2 weeks before using. This uncooked mixture needs time for the raw flavours of the vegetables, spices and vinegar to blend and mellow. Using it early can taste harsh and unbalanced.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Cuminfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, onion, sugar, celery, pepper, cinnamon, clove. 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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