Skip to main content
Main

Tomato Catsup

A tomato-based condiment seasoned with pepper, cinnamon, cloves, mace or nutmeg, cayenne, salt, and cider vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Tomato Catsup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and strain the ripe tomatoes.

Cook

  1. To every quart of strained tomatoes, add black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, mace or nutmeg, Cayenne pepper, and coarse sea salt to taste.

  2. Boil slowly for 1 hour.

  3. Add ½ pint of the best cider vinegar.

  4. Bottle the mixture 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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  4. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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, sweetness and acidity.
Cider vinegar
Adds sharpness that balances the sweetness of the cooked tomatoes and helps preserve the sauce.
Black pepper
Contributes a sharp, warm bite that cuts through the richness of the tomatoes.
Cloves
Add a strong, aromatic warmth that defines the spiced flavour profile.

The step that matters

Boil slowly for 1 hour. A slow, prolonged simmer thickens the tomato pulp by evaporating water and concentrates the flavour. Boiling too hard can scorch the bottom and make the sauce taste burnt, so keep it at a gentle simmer and stir to prevent sticking.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Cardamomfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, pepper, cinnamon, clove, cider, 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.

More tomato ketchup recipes

Green 26 See all 523 →

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesCream of Tomato SoupCream of Tomato Soup107 recipesTomato BisqueTomato Bisque61 recipesCream Tomato SoupCream Tomato Soup28 recipes