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
Scald and skin the tomatoes, cutting them into slices or sections, discarding the core.
Chill the tomatoes on ice until very cold.
Wash the fresh lettuce and place 2-3 young leaves in a saucer for each person.
Assemble and serve
Slice each tomato neatly and arrange the slices to appear uncut.
Place one tomato on each saucer in the center of the lettuce leaves.
Top each tomato with 2 teaspoons of mayonnaise sauce.
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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Tomato + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,469 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Lettuce + saucetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,019 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomatoes
- Provide the main body and fresh, slightly acidic flavor of the salad.
- Lettuce
- Provides a crisp, cool bed that holds the tomato and adds fresh texture.
- Mayonnaise sauce
- Adds fat and creaminess that softens the acidity of the tomato.
The step that matters
Chilling the tomatoes until very cold. Cold firms the tomato flesh and keeps it from going limp or watery once it is sliced and dressed, so the slices hold their shape and look neat.
Swap the lettuce
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, sauce):
- Capsicumfits better
- Eggplantfits better
- Okrafits better
- Lettucethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, sauce. 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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