Name: Curried Tomatoes
Ingredients: ½ teaspoon minced onion; 2 tablespoons butter; 1 teaspoon curry powder; sliced tomatoes

Why it works: Onion and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,633 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Curried Tomatoes

Ingredients

½ teaspoon minced onion
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon curry powder
sliced tomatoes

Directions

In a skillet, cook the minced onion in butter over medium heat until soft.
Add the curry powder and blend well.
Stir in the sliced tomatoes and cook until heated through.

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.

Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together42,912 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter + tomatotop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,918 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter: Carries the onion and curry powder, adding richness and helping the spices cook evenly.
Sliced tomatoes: Provide moisture and acidity that give the curry its body and tangy flavour.
Curry powder: Supplies the aromatic spice blend that defines the dish's flavour.
Minced onion: Softens into sweetness and builds the base flavour of the sauce.