Skip to main content
Main

Tomato Catsup

A thick tomato-based condiment made with tomatoes, vinegar, spices, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Tomato Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine skinned tomatoes, vinegar, salt, black pepper, cayenne, allspice, cloves, mustard, garlic, onions, brown sugar, and peach leaves in a large pot.

  2. Boil the mixture for 3 hours, stirring constantly.

  3. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve or coarse cloth.

  4. Bottle the strained catsup.

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. Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Allspice + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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 sauce and supply its main body and flavor.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens flavor and helps preserve the sauce.
Onions
Add savory depth and aromatic sweetness as they cook down.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the acidity and spices.
Garlic
Contributes pungent aroma that mellows during the long boil.

The step that matters

Boil for 3 hours while stirring constantly. A long, constant simmer reduces the tomato mixture and concentrates flavor. Stirring prevents scorching on the bottom of the pot, which would leave a burnt taste throughout the ketchup.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, pepper, allspice, clove, mustard, garlic, onion):

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Broccolifits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, pepper, allspice, clove, mustard, garlic, onion. 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.

More tomato ketchup recipes

Green 26 See all 523 →

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesCream of Tomato SoupCream of Tomato Soup107 recipesTomato BisqueTomato Bisque61 recipesCream Tomato SoupCream Tomato Soup28 recipes