Why it works: Tomato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 20,633 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Empty the tomatoes into a saucepan and add the sliced onion.
Add the salt and peppercorns, then boil for 10 minutes.
Moisten the cornflour with a little water, then stir it in thoroughly along with the vinegar.
Boil for an additional 5 minutes.
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 + oniontop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together20,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together18,226 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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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, acidity and flavour of the sauce.
- Cornflour
- Thickens the sauce as its starch swells when heated in liquid.
- Onion
- Adds savoury sweetness and aroma as it softens into the sauce.
The step that matters
Moistening the cornflour before stirring it in. Cornflour clumps into lumps if added dry to hot liquid, because its starch surface gets wet unevenly. Mixing it with a little cold water first lets the starch disperse evenly so it thickens smoothly when heated.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, vinegar):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Cucumberbetter flavor fit
- Mustardbetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, vinegar. 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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