Why it works: Tomato and basil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 3,979 recipes mention both. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
The recipe
makes 1 1/2 cupsIngredients
Directions
Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →
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 + basiltop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,979 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Oregano + basiltop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,390 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,036 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Lemon + basiltop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,820 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Tomato + oreganotop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,767 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, sugar, sauce, white wine, lemon, oregano, basil):
- Thymebetter flavor fit
- Marjorambetter flavor fit
- Rosemarybetter flavor fit
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, sugar, sauce, white wine, lemon, oregano, basil. 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).
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