Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Tomato Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pare the tomatoes with a sharp knife.
Slice the tomatoes and lay them in a salad bowl.
Dress and chill
Make a dressing by mixing the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs with oil and pepper.
Pour the dressing over the tomatoes.
Set the salad on ice for an hour.
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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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together50,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Tomato + eggtop 34% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,890 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomatoes
- Provide the main body and fresh, juicy texture of the salad.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and a creamy body to the oil-based dressing.
- Oil
- Carries flavour and adds smoothness and fat to the dressing.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pepper. 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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