Name: Summer Fatoush Salad
Ingredients: 1 cup red bell peppers, sliced into strips; 1 cup yellow bell peppers, sliced into strips; 1 cup peeled cucumbers, thinly sliced; 4 vine ripened tomatoes, cut into 1/4 inch wedges; 1/2 cup red onions, thinly sliced; 3 tbls finely chopped mint; 3 tbls finely chopped parsley; 3 tbls finely chopped cilantro; 2 garlic cloves, crushed; 2 tspn high quality olive oil; 2 tbls lemon juice; salt; freshly ground black pepper; 2 pita breads, to serve

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. 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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Cucumber + tomatotop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,405 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Parsley + garlictop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,308 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes: Provide juiciness and acidity that moisten the salad and add fresh flavour.
Olive oil: Carries flavour and adds fat, giving the dressing body and a smooth mouthfeel.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the sweet peppers.
Garlic: Adds pungent aroma that mellows and spreads through the dressing.
Red onions: Add sharp, crisp bite and aroma to the salad.
Pita breads: Toasting makes them crisp, adding crunch against the soft vegetables.

The step that matters

Toss lightly after dressing. Vigorous tossing bruises tender tomatoes and cucumbers, releasing excess water and making the salad soggy. Gentle folding keeps the vegetables crisp and the dressing evenly coated.

Swap the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, cucumber, tomato, onion, parsley, garlic, clove):

Thymefits better
Cuminfits better
Oreganofits better
Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, cucumber, tomato, onion, parsley, garlic, clove. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Pita Bread	1 slice (30g) white	79
Red Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Red Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Yellow Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Mint	2 tbsp fresh (3g)	2
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Summer Fatoush Salad