Why it works: Shallot and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,476 recipes mention both. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Butter a sauté pan with 1 oz. butter.
Wash, slice, and place tomatoes in the sauté pan.
Finely chop 2 oz. lean ham.
Peel and finely chop 3 shallots, then add them to the sauté pan with the chopped ham, 12 peppercorns, ½ teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon vinegar, bay leaf, and thyme.
Cook and strain
Cook over medium heat, stirring until reduced, about 15 minutes.
Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a basin, then return it to the sauté pan to warm through.
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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Shallot + thymetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,476 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Tomato + thymetop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,370 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Shallot + vinegartop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,374 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Tomato + shallottop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together583 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Tomato + vinegartop 16% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together5,063 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 and flavour of the sauce as they break down and reduce.
- Shallots
- Add a mild, sweet aromatic base that deepens the sauce's flavour.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the tomato flavour and balances its sweetness.
- Lean ham
- Contributes savoury, salty depth to the sauce.
The step that matters
Reducing while stirring. Cooking over medium heat while stirring keeps the tomatoes from catching on the pan bottom and scorching, and lets moisture evaporate so the sauce thickens and concentrates in flavour.
Flavor stand-ins for the shallot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, vinegar, ham, thyme, butter):
- Mustardabout as good a flavor fit
- Capsicumabout as good a flavor fit
- Shallotthe original
- Onionabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, vinegar, ham, thyme, 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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