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 and Cream Cheese Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Wash, peel, and slice the tomatoes into ½ inch thick slices.
Drain the slices well and wipe off each slice.
Spread a thick layer of cream cheese mixed with chopped green peppers on top of each slice.
Place a round of pepper in the middle of each slice.
Serve on a bed of crisp lettuce with French dressing.
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 + lettucetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,655 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + lettucetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,037 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cream cheese + lettucetop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together213 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Tomato + cream cheesetop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together446 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the lettuce
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, cream cheese, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Cucumberfits better
- Carrotfits about as well
- Lettucethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, cream cheese, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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