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Tomato Catsup

A preserved tomato sauce made by boiling tomatoes with spices and vinegar, then straining and bottling.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice 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

Make the ketchup

  1. Combine tomatoes, salt, cloves, mace, cayenne pepper, allspice, mustard seed, whole peppers, garlic, and vinegar in a large pot.

  2. Boil the mixture until it reduces by nearly half.

  3. Strain the mixture to remove solids.

Bottle

  1. Bottle the catsup and seal tightly.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,928 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  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. Pepper + allspicetop 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
Form the bulk of the ketchup and provide its body and main flavor.
Salt
Seasons the mixture and helps draw out flavor from the other ingredients.
White mustard seed
Adds a sharp, pungent flavor that balances the sweetness of the tomatoes.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and helps preserve the ketchup.
Garlic
Adds a pungent aroma and savory depth to the sauce.

The step that matters

Boil until reduced by nearly half. Boiling evaporates water and concentrates the tomato solids, thickening the sauce and deepening its flavor. Stopping too early leaves it thin and watery, while overcooking can make it too dense or scorch on the bottom of the pot.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Macethe original

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