Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 17,923 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Put the tomatoes and onion in a pot with just enough water to prevent burning.
Cook until soft, either in the oven at 400°F (200°C) or over the fire.
Rub the mixture through a sieve to create a purée.
Finish the sauce
Reheat the purée and add sugar, cochineal, salt, and pepper to taste.
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 + peppertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together20,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + sugartop 32% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together19,401 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Tomato + sugartop 33% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together4,667 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Pepper and sugar share little aroma chemistry, yet 19,401 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.
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, flavour and liquid that cooks down into the sauce.
- Onion
- Adds savoury depth and aroma as it softens during cooking.
- Sugar
- Balances the acidity of the tomatoes with a touch of sweetness.
The step that matters
Rub the mixture through a sieve. Pressing the cooked tomato and onion through a sieve removes skins and seeds and breaks down the solids into a smooth purée. Skipping or rushing this leaves a coarse, grainy sauce.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, pepper, sugar):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Carrotbetter flavor fit
- Okrabetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, pepper, 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.
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