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French Tomato Sauce

A tomato sauce made with tomatoes, basil, garlic, salt, pepper, and water, then strained and bottled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and basil are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,979 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

French Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Place quartered tomatoes in a saucepan with salt, basil, garlic, and a little water to prevent sticking.

  2. Cook until thoroughly done.

  3. Strain through a fine sieve to remove excess water.

  4. Transfer the tomato pulp back to the saucepan.

  5. Boil for 30 minutes.

  6. Add black pepper to taste.

Bottle and store

  1. Pour the sauce into wide-mouthed bottles.

  2. Cork tightly and secure with string or wire.

  3. Dip the neck of each bottle in melted resin for preservation.

  4. Store in a cool place.

  5. Once opened, use promptly.

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. Tomato + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Basil + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,805 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Basil + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,294 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  5. Basil + clovetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,437 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 main body, acidity and flavour of the sauce as they cook down.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma that mellows and deepens during the long simmer.
Fresh basil
Contributes a fresh, aromatic herbal flavour to the sauce.

The step that matters

Straining through a fine sieve. Removing excess water before the final boil controls the sauce's thickness. Leaving too much liquid makes the sauce thin and watery, and it may take longer to reduce and concentrate its flavour.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, basil, garlic, pepper):

  1. Oreganofits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Corianderfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, basil, garlic, pepper. 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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