Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Tomato Catsup
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
Scald and strain the tomatoes through a coarse sieve to remove seeds and skins.
Cook and bottle
In a large pot, combine the strained tomatoes with salt, mustard, black pepper, allspice, cloves, cayenne pepper, and vinegar.
Simmer the mixture slowly for four hours.
Bottle the catsup and cork it tightly.
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.
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Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Mustard + allspicetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,928 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,395 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 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 sweet tomato flavour of the ketchup.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that gives the ketchup its tangy flavour and helps preserve it.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the sauce and draws out flavour from the tomatoes.
- Ground mustard
- Adds a sharp, pungent note that rounds out the tomato flavour.
The step that matters
Simmer slowly for four hours. A long, gentle simmer evaporates water and concentrates the tomato solids, thickening the sauce and deepening its flavour. Too much heat can scorch the sugars and sticking solids on the bottom of the pot.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mustard, pepper, allspice, clove, white wine):
- Horseradishfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mustard, pepper, allspice, clove, white wine. 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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