Why it works: Cucumber and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,409 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Tomato Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut a hole in the stem end of each tomato and remove the insides.
Chop the tomato pulp, cucumber, and onion.
Season the mixture with salt, pepper, and oil.
Set the tomato skins on ice to chill.
Fill and serve
Just before serving, fill the tomato skins with the mixture, draining off any liquid.
Top each filled tomato with a large spoonful of mayonnaise dressing.
Garnish with lettuce or nasturtium leaves and serve with crackers or cheese straws.
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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Cucumber + lettucetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,409 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + cucumbertop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,405 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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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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Onion + lettucetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,562 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
- Tomatoes
- Form the hollow shells that hold the chopped filling.
- Cucumber
- Adds crisp, watery texture to the filling.
- Onion
- Adds sharp flavor that balances the sweetness of the tomatoes.
- Oil
- Adds fat and helps carry flavor through the filling.
- Mayonnaise dressing
- Adds richness and creamy moisture on top of each filled tomato.
The step that matters
Draining off any liquid before filling. Tomatoes and cucumber release water as they sit. Excess liquid left in the filling can make the mixture soggy and dilute the seasoning, so draining it keeps the filling firm and well flavored.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, cucumber, pepper, lettuce, cheese):
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, cucumber, pepper, lettuce, cheese. 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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