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Sauce

Tomato Catsup

A tomato-based sauce made with tomatoes, onions, red peppers, spices, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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

Prepare

  1. Chop the tomatoes, onions, and red peppers.

  2. Tie the black pepper, cloves, allspice, and salt in a spice bag.

Cook

  1. Add the spice bag to the tomatoes when they begin to boil.

  2. Cook until almost done, then stir in the vinegar.

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. Laurel + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Laurel + allspicetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together627 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Pepper + clovetop 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 sauce and provide the base flavor and body as they cook down.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and helps preserve the ketchup.
Onions
Add savory depth and aroma as they soften into the sauce.
Red peppers
Contribute sweetness and vegetable flavor to the sauce.
Cloves
Add warm, aromatic spice notes that season the sauce.
Allspice
Adds warm, aromatic spice notes that round out the sauce.

The step that matters

Stirring in the vinegar after cooking until almost done. Vinegar is added late so its sharp acidity and flavor stay fresh rather than cooking off. Adding it too early can dull its brightness, while adding it at the right point helps the finished ketchup taste balanced.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Eggplantfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, pepper, laurel, clove, allspice, 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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