Why it works: Tomato and capsicum match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,520 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Bottled Tomatas, or Tomata Catsup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
Cut the tomatoes into quarters and lay them on dishes.
Sprinkle the salt over the tomatoes and let them sit overnight.
The next day, strain the juice from the tomatoes through a fine sieve into a stew pan.
Make the ketchup
Boil the juice for 30 minutes with the capsicums and eschalots.
Add the pulped tomatoes and boil the mixture for another 30 minutes.
Bottle and seal
Prepare clean, wide-necked bottles by warming them by the fire.
Fill the bottles with the hot catsup, cork them, and dip the necks in melted resin or cement.
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 + capsicumtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,520 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
- Ripe tomatoes
- Provide the main body, moisture and tomato flavour of the ketchup.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws juice out of the tomatoes overnight and seasons the mixture.
- Small capsicums
- Add pepper flavour and aroma as they simmer in the juice.
- Eschalots
- Add savoury depth and aroma as they cook down in the juice.
The step that matters
Boiling the juice for 30 minutes before adding the pulped tomatoes. Simmering the strained juice with the capsicums and eschalots first concentrates its flavour and thickens it, so the later addition of pulp does not dilute the sauce. Cooking long enough also helps the ketchup keep in sealed bottles.
“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 ketchup recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Cream of Tomato Soup107 recipes
Tomato Bisque61 recipes
Cream Tomato Soup28 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.