Name: Stuffed Tomatoes
Ingredients: round tomatoes; celery, finely chopped; mayonnaise; small lettuce leaves

Why it works: Celery and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,033 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

Stuffed Tomatoes

Ingredients

round tomatoes
celery, finely chopped
mayonnaise
small lettuce leaves

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes

Select round tomatoes of equal size and peel them.
Scoop out part of the center from the stem end.
Place the tomatoes on ice until ready to serve.

Stuff and serve

Fill each tomato with finely chopped celery mixed with mayonnaise, allowing it to rise above the top.
Spread a little mayonnaise on small lettuce leaves.
Place a stuffed tomato on the dressing in the center of each leaf.
Arrange the stuffed tomatoes in a circle on a flat dish.

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.

Celery + lettucetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,033 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,377 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Tomato + lettucetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,655 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

Round tomatoes: Form the hollow shell that holds the filling and supplies the main fresh, juicy body.
Celery: Adds crunch and a fresh, mild vegetable flavor to the filling.
Mayonnaise: Binds the celery into a creamy filling and adds richness and moisture.