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
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
Add the finely chopped onion and cook until yellow.
Stir in the flour and mix well.
Gradually add the mutton broth and strained tomatoes.
Season with salt and pepper, then stir to combine.
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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Onion + tomatotop 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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 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
- Butter
- Adds richness and carries flavour as the base of the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce as it combines with the melted butter and liquid.
- Mutton broth
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce and adds savoury depth.
- Strained tomatoes
- Provide the main tomato flavour and acidity, along with body.
The step that matters
Stir in the flour and mix well. Flour must be fully mixed into the fat before liquid is added, or it clumps and leaves lumps in the sauce. Cooking the butter and flour together lets the starch dissolve evenly and thicken smoothly.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, mutton, tomato, pepper):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Okrabetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, mutton, tomato, 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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