Name: Fresh Tomatoes
Ingredients: fresh tomatoes; Hygia dressing or powdered sugar; lemon juice; thick cream

Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Fresh Tomatoes

Ingredients

fresh tomatoes
Hygia dressing or powdered sugar
lemon juice
thick cream

Directions

Peel the tomatoes with a very sharp knife.
Slice the tomatoes.
Cover the slices with Hygia dressing or a mixture of powdered sugar and lemon juice.
Alternatively, cover the slices with thick cream.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

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.

Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Tomato + lemontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,592 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon + creamtop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together15,640 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Tomato + creamtop 32% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,034 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Fresh tomatoes: Provide the main body and juicy texture of the salad.
Hygia dressing: Adds a sweet-tart coating that seasons the tomato slices.
Powdered sugar: Sweetens the tomato slices and dissolves into the lemon juice.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the tomatoes.
Thick cream: Adds richness and a mild, creamy coating as an alternative dressing.