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Tomato Cathup

A tomato-based condiment made by boiling tomatoes with spices, vinegar, and sugar, then bottling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Tomato Cathup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Wash the tomatoes and cut them into pieces.

  2. Boil the tomatoes until soft, then strain and press through a coarse sieve.

Cook the sauce

  1. Return the strained mixture to the pot and add a bag with the spices.

  2. Boil for at least 4 hours, stirring constantly for the last hour.

  3. Add the vinegar and sugar just before removing from heat.

Bottle

  1. Bottle and seal securely.

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. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Clove + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Ripe tomatoes
Provide the main bulk, body and natural flavour of the sauce.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens flavour and helps preserve the sauce.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the sauce and helps draw moisture out of the tomatoes.
Sugar
Balances the acidity and sharpness of the vinegar and tomatoes.
Ground mustard
Adds pungent flavour and a sharp, savoury bite to the sauce.

The step that matters

Boil for at least 4 hours, stirring constantly for the last hour. Long simmering thickens the sauce by evaporating water, while constant stirring in the final hour prevents scorching on the bottom of the pot as the sugars concentrate.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, clove, celery, mustard, vinegar, sugar):

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, clove, celery, mustard, vinegar, sugar. 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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