Why it works: Tomato and chive work together. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 538 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Tomato and Chives
Ingredients
Directions
Peel and chill the tomatoes.
Cut the chives into ½ inch lengths.
Sprinkle the chives over the tomatoes.
Pour French dressing over the tomatoes and let stand for 30 minutes.
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.
-
Tomato + chivetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together538 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Small firm tomatoes
- Form the main body of the salad and provide its fresh, juicy base.
- Chives
- Add a mild onion-like aroma and fresh flavour to the tomatoes.
- French dressing
- Adds acidity and oil that season the tomatoes as they stand.
The step that matters
Pour French dressing over the tomatoes and let stand for 30 minutes. Standing lets the salt and acid in the dressing draw flavour into the tomatoes and soften them slightly. Chilled tomatoes must be peeled and dressed in time, or the dressing will sit on top rather than season the fruit.
“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.
You might also like
Tomato Salad179 recipes
Chicken Salad623 recipes
Salad Dressing491 recipes
Cold Slaw160 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.