Why it works: Tomato and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 33% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,667 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Raw Tomatoes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Remove the skins from the tomatoes using a sharp knife.
Slice the tomatoes and place them in a dish.
Chill and serve
Chill the dish on ice for 1 to 2 hours before serving.
Serve without seasoning, allowing guests to add salt or sugar as preferred.
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.
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Tomato + sugartop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,667 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fresh tomatoes
- Provide the entire dish, supplying juice, flesh and natural sweetness and acidity.
The step that matters
Chilling the tomatoes on ice. Chilling slows enzyme activity and keeps the flesh firm and fresh-tasting. Tomatoes lose flavour and texture when they become warm, so they should stay cold until served.
“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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