Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 17,923 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the tomato base
Melt 2 oz of butter in a saucepan and fry the onion until golden brown.
Add the sliced tomatoes and white stock; simmer gently for 30 minutes.
Rub the mixture through a wire sieve.
Make the sauce
In another saucepan, melt the remaining butter, then gradually stir in the flour.
Add the stock and seasoning, stirring until boiling.
Cool slightly and then add the cream, preferably scalded.
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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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together20,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 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
- Tomatoes
- Provide the main body and flavour of the sauce once simmered and sieved.
- Butter
- Adds richness and carries flavour when melted and cooked with the onion and flour.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce when cooked with melted butter before the liquid is added.
- White stock
- Supplies the liquid that softens the tomatoes and forms the body of the sauce.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, softer texture to the finished sauce.
The step that matters
Stirring the flour into the butter and adding the stock. Flour must be cooked briefly in the melted butter and stirred in gradually, otherwise lumps form. Keep stirring until the sauce boils so the starch thickens evenly.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, butter, pepper, flour, cream):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Spinachbetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, butter, pepper, flour, cream. 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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