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Salad

Tomato Salad

A salad of peeled tomatoes filled with celery or cucumber and mayonnaise, pineapple and nuts, served on lettuce leaves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Tomato Salad

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 ↓

Tomato Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Scald and peel the tomatoes.

  2. Slice off the tops and scoop out the seeds and some pulp.

Fill and serve

  1. Fill the cavities with diced celery or cucumber mixed with mayonnaise dressing, or with shredded pineapple and nuts mixed with mayonnaise dressing.

  2. Cut the tomatoes into sixths almost to the stem end to create a tiger lily shape.

  3. Serve on lettuce leaves.

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.

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.

  1. Celery + lettucetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,033 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  2. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Tomato + lettucetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Pineapple + lettucetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together271 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  5. Nuts + lettucetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together174 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

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

What each ingredient does

Ripe tomatoes
Form the hollow base that holds the filling and the cut tiger lily shape.
Mayonnaise dressing
Adds richness and moisture to the filling, binding the diced or shredded ingredients together.
Celery or cucumber
Adds crisp texture and mild freshness to the filling.
Shredded pineapple
Adds sweetness and juiciness to the alternative filling.
Nuts
Add crunch and a toasty note to the alternative filling.

The step that matters

Scooping out the seeds and pulp. Removing too little leaves the tomato wet and watery, which can dilute the filling. Removing too much thins the walls so they tear or collapse under the filling. Aim for a shell that is sturdy but still open.

Swap the nuts

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, celery, pineapple, lettuce):

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Chickpeafits better
  3. Chestnutfits better
  4. Nutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, celery, pineapple, lettuce. 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.

More tomato salad recipes

Stuffed 27Frozen 12Cucumber 6with Mayonnaise 6Dressing 5Shrimp 4 See all 165 →

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