Name: Voodoo Bruschetta
Ingredients: 3/4 to 1 lb pizza dough; 6-8 ripe plum tomatoes; 2 tablespoon finely chopped red onion (optional); 2 cloves to 2 buds crushed garlic; 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil or several tablespoon of pesto; 2 teaspoon vegan red wine vinegar or lemon juice; 1-4 tablespoon olive oil; 1-2 teaspoon or tablespoon chili paste (found in Asian section of supermarket); salt & pepper to taste; 10-20 pitted kalmatta olives, chopped; vegan soy parmesan, grated

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).
Tomato + olivetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Tomato + basiltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,979 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

What each ingredient does

Pizza dough: Forms the crisp, lightly browned base that holds the topping.
Plum tomatoes: Provide the juicy, fresh body of the topping; removing seeds limits excess moisture.
Garlic: Adds sharp aroma that mellows during the standing time.
Olive oil: Adds fat and richness, carrying flavour across the topping and crust.
Red wine vinegar or lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the tomatoes and balances richness.

The step that matters

Let the tomato mixture stand for about an hour. Salt, acid and garlic draw juice out of the tomatoes and mellow the garlic. Standing lets flavours blend, and draining excess liquid helps keep the crust from turning soggy.

Swap the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (plum, tomato, clove, garlic, basil, red wine, olive):

Eggplantfits better
Capsicumfits better
Cucumberfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against plum, tomato, clove, garlic, basil, red wine, olive. 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
Parmesan Cheese	1 oz (28g)	110
Red Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Plum	1 medium (66g)	30
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Soy Sauce	1 tbsp (15ml)	9
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Olive	1 large (4g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Basil	5 leaves fresh (2.5g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Pizza	not in our table	0

Voodoo Bruschetta