Why it works: Tomato and lettuce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,655 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Tomato Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Peel and chill the tomatoes.
Cut each tomato in half crosswise.
Assemble and serve
Arrange each half on a lettuce leaf.
Garnish with mayonnaise and minced onion.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Tomato + lettucetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,655 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Lettuce + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,562 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,633 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
- Tomatoes
- Provide the fresh, juicy body and mild acidity that make up the salad.
- Mayonnaise
- Adds richness and fat, softening the tomato's acidity and giving a creamy finish.
- Lettuce leaves
- Act as a crisp, cool base that holds the tomato halves in place.
The step that matters
Peel and chill the tomatoes. Chilling firms the tomato flesh so the halves hold their shape on the lettuce, and peeling removes the skin, which stays tough and can separate from the flesh when cut.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, lettuce):
- Cucumberfits better
- Okrafits better
- Beetrootfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, lettuce. 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.
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