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 Lettuce Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Peel and chill the tomatoes.
Cut each tomato in half crosswise.
Assemble and serve
Arrange each half in a small nest of lettuce leaves.
Garnish with Mayonnaise Dressing forced through a pastry bag and tube.
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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomatoes
- Provide the main fresh, juicy body of the salad.
- Lettuce leaves
- Form a crisp, cool base that holds each tomato half in place.
- Mayonnaise dressing
- Adds rich fat and creamy texture as a garnish on top.
The step that matters
Peel and chill the tomatoes. Peeling removes the tough skin so the halves look and eat smoothly. Chilling firms the flesh and keeps it cool, which helps it hold its shape when cut and set on the lettuce.
“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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