Name: Tomato Sauce
Ingredients: 1 pint of tomatoes; 1 onion, chopped fine; 3 tablespoons of vinegar; 1-2 tablespoons of sugar; 5 grains of spice; 8 cloves

Why it works: Tomato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 20,633 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Combine tomatoes, chopped onion, vinegar, sugar, spice, and cloves in a pot.
Boil until the onion is soft.
Serve with meat of all kinds.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + clovetop 12% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together3,474 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Onion + clovetop 13% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together16,901 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together18,226 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together20,806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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, moisture and tangy flavor of the sauce.
Onion: Softens during boiling and adds savory depth to the sauce.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and balances the sweetness.
Sugar: Adds sweetness that rounds out the acidity of the tomatoes and vinegar.

Flavor stand-ins for the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, onion, vinegar, sugar):

Garlicbetter flavor fit
Cuminbetter flavor fit
Corianderbetter flavor fit
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, onion, vinegar, sugar. 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.