Name: Tuna Creole Skillet
Ingredients: 1/3 cup chopped onion; 1 14-1/2-ounce can peeled whole tomatoes; 1 medium onion, sliced and separated into rings; 1 green bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch squares; 1 clove garlic, minced; 1 tablespoon butter or margarine; 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce; 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper; 1/2 teaspoon salt; 2 6-1/2-ounce cans tuna in water, drained and flaked; 3 cups hot cooked rice

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 + garlictop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Tomato + ricetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,065 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 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

What each ingredient does

Tuna: Provides the main protein and flakes into the sauce as it heats.
Tomatoes: Add moisture and acidity that form the base of the Creole sauce.
Onion: Adds savory sweetness as it softens in the butter.
Green bell pepper: Adds a fresh, slightly bitter vegetable flavor and tender crisp texture.
Butter or margarine: Adds fat for cooking the vegetables and a rich flavor to the sauce.

The step that matters

Cook until thoroughly heated after adding the tuna. Tuna is already cooked, so the goal is only to heat it through gently. Mixing gently keeps the flakes intact, and simmering too hard can make the fish dry and break it into shreds.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, tomato, pepper, garlic, butter, sauce, rice):

Parsleyfits better
Cuminfits better
Thymefits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, tomato, pepper, garlic, butter, sauce, rice. 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
Salmon	100g cooked	208
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Sauce	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0

Tuna Creole Skillet