Why it works: Beef and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,448 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Fried Sweet Breads
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the sweetbreads by soaking them in water and then removing any membranes.
Dip the sweetbreads in beaten eggs, then coat with bread crumbs.
Heat beef drippings in a pan over medium heat.
Fry the coated sweetbreads until golden brown.
Serve with tomato sauce or Creole sauce.
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.
-
Beef + tomatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,448 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Bread + tomatotop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,013 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Bread + beeftop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,032 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
-
Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
-
Tomato + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,469 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, bread, beef, sauce):
- Tomatothe original
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Shallotfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, bread, beef, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
You might also like
The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Roast Beef211 recipes
Beef Loaf175 recipes