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Tomato Catsup

A fermented tomato sauce made with tomatoes, vinegar, spices, onions, garlic, and peppers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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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

  1. Wash and chop the tomatoes, onions, garlic, and red peppers.

  2. Combine all ingredients in a large pot.

Cook and strain

  1. Boil the mixture for a long time, stirring occasionally.

  2. Strain the mixture through a sieve to remove solids.

Finish

  1. Add the vinegar last and boil until thickened.

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  4. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Provide the bulk, body and sweet-tart base of the ketchup.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens flavor and helps preserve the finished ketchup.
Onions
Contribute savory depth and sweetness as they cook down.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma that mellows during the long boil.
Red peppers
Add sweetness, color and a vegetal note to the sauce.
Black pepper
Adds mild heat and aroma to the seasoning.

The step that matters

Boil until thickened. Vinegar is added last, so the sauce must simmer long enough to reduce and thicken. Stirring occasionally helps prevent sticking and scorching on the bottom of the pot during the long boil.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, allspice, clove, pepper, onion, garlic):

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, allspice, clove, pepper, onion, garlic. 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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