Name: Tomato Gravy From Dottie’s Biscuit Barn
Ingredients: 3-4 large ripe heirloom tomatoes (about 2.5 lbs), skins removed; 1 tablespoons butter; 1/2 large yellow onion, finely chopped; 1 anaheim or similarly mild-medium heat pepper; 1 sweet peppers (i use yellow and green to add color, or whatever is coming in from the garden); .5 jalapeno or more intense pepper (serrano or cayenne could work too); 2 cups vegetable stock; 1/2 tablespoon salt; 1/2 tablespoon smoked paprika; 3/4 teaspoon cracked pepper; 1/2 tablespoon fresh oregano; 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes (depending on what peppers you used in the sauté); 1/2 cup rue (1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup flour); salt and pepper to taste

Why it works: Jalapeno and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 561 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

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.

Jalapeno + flourtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together561 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Tomato + oreganotop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,767 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Pepper + oreganotop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,449 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 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 (tomato, butter, pepper, jalapeno, oregano, flour):

Eggplantfits better
Okrafits better
Capsicumfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, butter, pepper, jalapeno, oregano, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Cayenne	1 tsp (1.8g)	6
Oregano	1 tsp dried (1.8g)	5
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Rue	not in our table	0

Tomato Gravy From Dottie’s Biscuit Barn