Why it works: Clove and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 6,768 recipes mention both. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the tomato base
Combine the tomatoes, cloves, parsley, peppercorns, and onion in a pot over medium heat.
Cook for 20 minutes.
Strain the mixture through a sieve.
Thicken and finish
In a separate saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.
Stir in the flour and cook for a few moments, stirring constantly.
Pour in the strained tomato mixture and mix well until combined.
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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Clove + parsleytop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together6,768 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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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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Tomato + parsleytop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together5,398 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Tomato + clovetop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,474 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomatoes
- Form the sauce's main body, flavor, and liquid base.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and tomato liquid into a smoother, more body-rich sauce.
- Butter
- Carries the flour and adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the sauce.
- Onion
- Adds savory sweetness and aromatic depth as it softens into the tomatoes.
The step that matters
Stirring the flour in the melted butter. Cooking the flour in fat while stirring constantly cooks off raw starch taste and prevents lumps, so the flour thickens evenly when the liquid is added.
Flavor stand-ins for the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, parsley, onion, flour, butter):
- Capersbetter flavor fit
- Thymebetter flavor fit
- Garlicbetter flavor fit
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, parsley, onion, flour, butter. 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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