Why it works: Tomato and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl, combine tomato catsup, mustard, Tabasco sauce, red pepper, black pepper, and lemon juice, and mix thoroughly with a fork.
Add olive oil and stir until well combined.
Finally, stir in the vinegar.
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.
-
Tomato + olivetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,539 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Lemon + olivetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,922 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomato catsup
- Provides the base body, sweetness and tomato flavour of the sauce.
- Olive oil
- Adds fat and richness, and helps form a smooth, emulsified texture.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and balances the oil and sweetness.
- Mustard
- Adds sharp flavour and helps the oil and liquids stay combined.
The step that matters
Stir in the olive oil until well combined. Oil and water-based ingredients separate unless they are whisked or stirred thoroughly, so the oil should be fully blended in to give a smooth, cohesive sauce rather than a greasy layer.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, mustard, sauce, pepper, olive, vinegar):
- Avocadofits better
- Limefits better
- Cherryfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, mustard, sauce, pepper, olive, vinegar. 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 sauce recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Lemon Sauce236 recipes
Cream of Tomato Soup107 recipes
Tomato Bisque61 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.