Name: Tomato Salad
Ingredients: 2 eggs; ⅓ cup vinegar; 1 heaping teaspoon salt; 1 heaping teaspoon sugar; a little cayenne pepper; 1 teaspoon butter; cream; optional: 2 teaspoons olive oil

Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Tomato Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Shave or chop the cabbage (not too fine).
In a bowl, combine eggs, vinegar, salt, sugar, and cayenne pepper.
Stir well, adding vinegar slowly while stirring continuously.
Place the bowl in a saucepan of hot water to thicken the dressing.
Boil the water slowly and stir constantly to prevent lumps.
Occasionally lift the bowl to stir and then return it to the hot water.
Once thick and smooth, remove from heat and add butter and cream.
If desired, stir in olive oil.

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.

Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Vinegar + olivetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,297 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Pepper + olivetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,263 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).