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Tuna Fish Toast

A toast topped with marinated tuna, butter, sherry, tomato sauce, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Tuna Fish Toast

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tuna

  1. Flake the tuna fish and marinate it in vinegar, onion juice, salt, and pepper for one hour.

Cook and serve

  1. In a chafing dish, melt the butter, then add the sherry and tomato sauce.

  2. Stir in the marinated tuna and heat thoroughly.

  3. Serve the mixture on hot toast.

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.

  1. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Vinegar + sherrytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together660 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  5. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

What each ingredient does

Tuna fish
Forms the main body of the filling, providing protein and the savory base of the dish.
Butter
Adds richness and carries flavor through the warm mixture.
Tomato sauce
Adds moisture and a tangy, slightly sweet acidity to the filling.
Vinegar
Acidity in the marinade that brightens the fish and tenderizes its texture slightly.
Sherry
Adds a fortified wine aroma and subtle sweetness to the warm mixture.

The step that matters

Heat thoroughly after adding the tuna. The marinated tuna is already prepared, so it only needs to warm through in the sauce. Heating it fully ensures even warmth and a cohesive mixture without drying the fish out.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, butter, vinegar, sherry, tomato, sauce, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Cucumberfits about as well
  3. Potatofits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, butter, vinegar, sherry, tomato, sauce, 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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