Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
Stir in the flour and cook until frothy.
Gradually add the strained tomatoes and milk, stirring continuously.
Cook until the sauce thickens and becomes smooth.
Season with pepper, coarse sea salt, onion juice, and cayenne to taste.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Tomato + peppertop 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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Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Enriches the sauce and carries flavour while forming the base roux.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce by forming a roux with the melted butter.
- Strained tomatoes
- Provide the main body and tomato flavour of the sauce.
- Rich milk
- Adds creaminess and mellows the acidity of the tomatoes.
The step that matters
Adding the tomatoes and milk gradually. Adding liquid slowly while stirring keeps the flour evenly dispersed, so the sauce thickens smoothly instead of forming lumps.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, tomato, milk, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatofits better
- Okrafits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, tomato, milk, pepper. 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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