Why it works: Shallot and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,476 recipes mention both. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Butter a sauté pan with 1 oz. of butter.
Wash the tomatoes, slice them, and place them in the sauté pan.
Finely chop the lean ham.
Peel and finely chop the shallots, then add them to the sauté pan along with the chopped ham, peppercorns, salt, vinegar, thyme, and bay leaf.
Make the sauce
Cook over medium heat, stirring until reduced, about 15 minutes.
Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a basin, then return it to the sauté pan to warm through.
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 + thymetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,476 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Tomato + thymetop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,370 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Shallot + vinegartop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,374 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Tomato + shallottop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together583 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Tomato + vinegartop 16% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together5,063 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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 acidity of the sauce as they break down and reduce.
- Shallots
- Add a mild sweetness and aromatic depth to the sauce base.
- Lean ham
- Adds savory, salty flavor that builds depth as the sauce reduces.
- Vinegar
- Adds sharp acidity that brightens the flavor of the tomatoes.
The step that matters
Reducing the mixture while stirring. Cooking over medium heat and stirring keeps the tomatoes from scorching on the pan base while water evaporates and the sauce thickens and concentrates in flavor.
Flavor stand-ins for the shallot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, vinegar, ham, thyme, butter):
- Mustardabout as good a flavor fit
- Capsicumabout as good a flavor fit
- Shallotthe original
- Onionabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, vinegar, ham, thyme, butter. 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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