Why it works: Tomato and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 3,377 recipes mention both. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the tomatoes with the onion, cloves, and celery salt.
Strain the mixture.
Thicken with flour and butter rubbed together.
Season with salt, white pepper, and red pepper.
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 + celerytop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,377 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Clove + celerytop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together4,668 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
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Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together18,518 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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 flavor of the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce as it heats, giving it body.
- Butter
- Rubbed with flour to form a roux-like paste that thickens smoothly without lumps.
- Onion
- Adds savory aroma and sweetness as it cooks into the tomatoes.
The step that matters
Thicken with flour and butter rubbed together. Flour added directly to hot liquid clumps. Rubbing it with butter first coats the starch granules so they disperse evenly and thicken the sauce smoothly.
Flavor stand-ins for the white pepper
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, onion, clove, celery, flour, butter, pepper):
- Thymebetter flavor fit
- Parsleybetter flavor fit
- Turmericbetter flavor fit
- White pepperthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, onion, clove, celery, flour, butter, pepper. 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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