Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 14,189 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Boil the skinned tomatoes for 2 to 3 hours.
Add vinegar, sugar, and spices.
Continue boiling until thick, about 4 hours.
For a smoother sauce, run the tomatoes through a sieve to remove the seeds.
Preserve
Seal in cans.
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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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
-
Clove + macetop 6% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together8,400 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Cinnamon + mustardtop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,581 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned 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
- Provide the bulk and body of the sauce as they cook down and thicken.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps thicken the sauce as it reduces.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that sharpens flavour and helps preserve the sauce.
The step that matters
Continue boiling until thick. Long boiling evaporates water so the sauce thickens and concentrates. Stopping early leaves it thin and more prone to spoiling in the can.
Flavor stand-ins for the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, sugar, vinegar, cinnamon, clove, mustard, pepper):
- Allspicebetter flavor fit
- Cardamombetter flavor fit
- Tarragonbetter flavor fit
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, sugar, vinegar, cinnamon, clove, mustard, 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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