Why it works: Shallot and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,523 recipes mention both. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
Crush the tomatoes.
Place them in a saucepan over high heat to sweat out the water.
Strain the tomatoes through a sieve to remove excess water.
Make the sauce
Slice the shallots and add them to the saucepan with the ham and peppercorns.
Fry for a few minutes.
Add the crushed tomatoes to the pan.
Stir over high heat until moisture evaporates.
Stir in the brown sauce and a little consommé.
Let simmer for 15 minutes.
Rub the sauce through a fine sieve.
Return it to the pan, thinning with consommé as needed.
Skim off any scum and butter.
Season with glaze and lemon juice.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Shallot + lemontop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,523 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Tomato + lemontop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together4,592 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Tomato + shallottop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together583 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Shallot + saucetop 14% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,303 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Tomato + saucetop 15% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together5,469 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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 and flavour of the sauce once their water is driven off.
- Shallots
- Add aromatic sweetness and depth when fried at the start.
- Brown sauce
- Adds savoury richness and body to the sauce.
- Consommé
- Thins the sauce to the desired consistency and adds savoury liquid.
The step that matters
Stir over high heat until moisture evaporates. Tomatoes hold a lot of water, and if it is not fully driven off the sauce stays thin and dilute. Stirring prevents scorching on the base of the pan while the liquid reduces and the flavour concentrates.
Flavor stand-ins for the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, shallot, ham, sauce):
- Avocadobetter flavor fit
- Cherryabout as good a flavor fit
- Limeabout as good a flavor fit
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, shallot, ham, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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