Why it works: Corn and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,099 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the tomato base
Cook the onion with the tomato for 15 minutes.
Strain the mixture.
Thicken and season
Add it to the butter and corn starch that have been cooked together.
Add the seasoning.
Let it boil for 3 minutes.
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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Corn + tomatotop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,099 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Corn starch
- Thickens the sauce as its starch granules swell and set in hot liquid.
- Butter or meat drippings
- Adds fat for richness and carries flavor, and helps the starch blend smoothly.
- Tomato
- Provides the main flavor base and a bright acidity.
- Onion
- Adds savory aromatic depth to the sauce.
The step that matters
Let it boil for 3 minutes. Cornstarch only thickens fully once it reaches a boil, when its starch granules swell and gelatinize. Stopping early can leave the sauce thin and starchy-tasting.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (corn, pepper, tomato, butter):
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatofits better
- Carrotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against corn, pepper, tomato, butter. 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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