Why it works: Olive and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 14,164 recipes mention both. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dressing
Combine the oil, vinegar, ketchup, garlic, parsley, mustard, and cayenne in a pint jar.
Cover and shake well.
Serve
Pour the desired amount over the salad.
This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,164 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together34,118 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Tomato + garlictop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together14,075 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Olive + garlictop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together23,449 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together9,294 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
- Olive oil
- Provides the fat base and body, carrying the flavors of the other ingredients.
- Balsamic vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the oil.
- Tomato ketchup
- Adds sweetness and thickness, rounding out the sharp vinegar.
- Garlic
- Contributes pungent aroma and savory flavor.
- Brown mustard
- Acts as an emulsifier, helping oil and vinegar stay blended.
- Cayenne pepper
- Adds a sharp background heat that defines the Cajun character.
The step that matters
Shake well. Oil and vinegar separate on standing. Vigorous shaking breaks the oil into fine droplets, and the mustard helps keep them suspended, so the dressing coats the salad evenly instead of pooling.
Flavor stand-ins for the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, vinegar, tomato, ketchup, garlic, parsley, pepper):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Carrotbetter flavor fit
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against olive, vinegar, tomato, ketchup, garlic, parsley, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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.
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