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 ↓
Pineapple and Tomato Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Peel and chill the firm ripe tomatoes.
Cut the tomatoes into ⅓ inch slices.
Place a slice of tomato over a slice of chilled canned Hawaiian pineapple.
Arrange on a bed of heart-lettuce leaves.
Top with Mayonnaise.
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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Pineapple + lettucetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together271 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Tomato + pineappletop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together306 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the pineapple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, lettuce):
- Avocadofits better
- Cherryfits better
- Limefits better
- Pineapplethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, lettuce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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