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Salad

Tomato Salad

A salad of sliced tomatoes, onions, and hard-boiled eggs seasoned with cayenne, sugar, salt, vinegar, citrus juice, and oil.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Tomato Salad

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

  1. Slice the tomatoes.

  2. Beat the egg until light.

  3. Mix in cayenne pepper, sugar, and salt.

  4. Chop the onions finely and add to the mixture.

  5. Stir in vinegar, sour orange or lemon juice, and oil or melted butter.

  6. Garnish with sliced hard-boiled eggs.

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.

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.

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

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

  2. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  3. Tomato + orangetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together689 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Pepper + orangetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,402 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  5. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 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
Form the main body of the salad and supply moisture and fresh tomato flavor.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar and citrus juice.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that brightens the flavor and sharpens the dressing.
Oil or melted butter
Adds fat that gives the dressing a smoother, richer mouthfeel.
Onions
Contribute a sharp, aromatic bite that cuts through the sweetness of the tomatoes.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, egg, pepper, sugar, onion, vinegar, butter):

  1. Cherryfits better
  2. Lemonfits better
  3. Mangofits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, egg, pepper, sugar, onion, vinegar, butter. 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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