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Home Town Drive-In Pasta Salad

"A small drive-in dairy bar in our town which has been closed for some time used to make this...my kids missed it. I remembered they had the ingredients posted to a board in the drive-in for some reason, so I worked on trying to get it the way they prepared it. It's finally right and I thought I would share it. We like this at room temperature, but it certainly can be refrigerated."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 12 ingredients
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Home Town Drive-In Pasta Salad

Why it works: Oregano and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,767 recipes. Both carry 2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

Home Town Drive-In Pasta Salad

8 servings
Prep15 min
Cook10 min

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

612Calories
19 gProtein
25 gFat
79 gCarbs

Counts 11 of 12 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Pasta1 cup cooked (140g)220
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Cheddar Cheese1 oz (28g)113
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Oregano1 tsp dried (1.8g)5
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Oregano + tomatotop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,767 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  2. Pasta + oreganotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together364 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  3. Oregano + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Pasta + tomatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,622 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  5. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pasta, sugar, vinegar, oregano, tomato, pepper, cheddar cheese):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Eggplantfits better
  3. Mustardfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pasta, sugar, vinegar, oregano, tomato, pepper, cheddar cheese. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.