Name: Cauliflower and Tomato
Ingredients: 1 boiled cauliflower; rich tomato sauce

Why it works: Cauliflower and tomato work together. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 91 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Cauliflower and Tomato

Ingredients

1 boiled cauliflower
rich tomato sauce

Directions

Boil the cauliflower until tender.
Place the boiled cauliflower on a round dish.
Pour the rich tomato sauce around the base of the cauliflower.

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.

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.

Cauliflower + tomatotop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together91 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Tomato + saucetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,469 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Cauliflower + saucetop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together463 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Cauliflower: Forms the main body of the dish, providing its bulk and mild, tender texture once boiled.
Rich tomato sauce: Adds moisture, acidity and savoury flavour that complements the mild cauliflower.