Name: Tomato Sandwich
Ingredients: 1 slice white bread, buttered; 1 lettuce leaf; cooked dressing; 1 slice tomato, thinly sliced and peeled; mayonnaise or cooked dressing

Why it works: Lettuce and tomato 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 Sandwich

Ingredients

1 slice white bread, buttered
1 lettuce leaf
cooked dressing
1 slice tomato, thinly sliced and peeled
mayonnaise or cooked dressing

Directions

Butter a slice of white bread.
Lay a lettuce leaf on the buttered bread and spread with cooked dressing.
Place a thin, peeled slice of tomato on top.
Add another slice of buttered bread on top.
Serve with mayonnaise or additional cooked dressing.

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.

Lettuce + tomatotop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,655 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Bread + tomatotop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,013 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Bread + lettucetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together602 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Tomato: Adds moisture and fresh acidity that brightens the sandwich.
White bread: Provides a soft, neutral base that holds the filling together.
Butter: Adds fat and richness and helps keep the bread from soaking up the dressing.