Name: Horiatiki Salata
Ingredients: Tomatoes, peeled and sliced; 1 Cucumber, washed and cut in thin slices. Do not peel the cucumber!; 1 green pepper, cut finely in thin stripes; 1 large onion, finely sliced; At least 100 gr hard feta cheese, from the barrel; Black Kalamata olives; Capper; Parsley; Oregano; Thick salt; Extra virgin olive oil; A good vinegar

Why it works: Tomato and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. 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.

Tomato + olivetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Tomato + oreganotop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,767 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Parsley + oreganotop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,184 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Tomato + cucumbertop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,405 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, cucumber, pepper, feta cheese, olive, parsley, oregano):

Eggplantfits better
Capsicumfits better
Spinachfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, cucumber, pepper, feta cheese, olive, parsley, oregano. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Feta Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Oregano	1 tsp dried (1.8g)	5
Olive	1 large (4g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Horiatiki Salata