Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 14,189 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tomatoes
Skin and slice the tomatoes.
Break them up with your hands.
Cook the sauce
Add vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and mace to the tomatoes.
Boil the mixture slowly until it thickens to a jam-like consistency.
Stir frequently towards the end to prevent scorching.
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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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Clove + macetop 6% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together8,400 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
-
Cinnamon + macetop 10% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Tomato + cinnamontop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,348 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Sugar and cinnamon share little aroma chemistry, yet 30,779 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.
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 and flavor of the sauce.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and helps preserve the sauce.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps thicken the sauce as it cooks down.
The step that matters
Stir frequently towards the end of cooking. As the mixture thickens, sugars concentrate and settle near the bottom of the pan, where they scorch easily. Frequent stirring keeps the sauce from burning and tasting bitter.
Flavor stand-ins for the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, clove):
- Allspicebetter flavor fit
- Cardamombetter flavor fit
- Nutmegbetter flavor fit
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, clove. 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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