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Tomato Catsup

A tomato-based condiment made by simmering tomatoes with spices and port wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Tomato Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Slice the tomatoes like cucumbers and sprinkle salt on every two layers.

  2. Let the tomatoes stand for 24 hours.

  3. Strain the tomatoes through a cloth or sieve.

Cook the ketchup

  1. Boil the strained juice, reducing it by half.

  2. Add the ground spices and port wine to the juice.

  3. Boil all together for 30 minutes.

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 + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Allspice + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,331 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
Provide the main body, moisture and tangy flavor of the ketchup.
Port wine
Adds sweetness, depth and body to the sauce as it reduces.
Ground cloves
Contribute warm, aromatic spice notes that define the ketchup's flavor.
Ground cinnamon
Adds warm, sweet aroma that rounds out the spiced flavor.

The step that matters

Boil the strained juice, reducing it by half. Reduction concentrates the tomato flavor and thickens the liquid. Stopping early leaves a thin ketchup, while over-reducing can scorch the sugars and make it bitter or dark.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cinnamon, clove, mace, pepper, allspice, nutmeg, port wine):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cinnamon, clove, mace, pepper, allspice, nutmeg, port wine. 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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