Name: Tomato Baskets with Green Pease
Ingredients: large firm tomatoes; cold boiled green peas; lettuce leaves; mayonnaise

Why it works: Peas and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,293 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Tomato Baskets with Green Pease

Ingredients

large firm tomatoes
cold boiled green peas
lettuce leaves
mayonnaise

Directions

Peel the tomatoes and cut off the tops.
Remove the seeds and soft pulp, leaving a thick outer wall.
Fill each tomato with cold boiled green peas.
Place each filled tomato on a leaf of lettuce.
Arrange the tomatoes in a salad bowl or on a platter.
Top each tomato basket with a tablespoon of mayonnaise or serve mayonnaise on the side.

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.

Peas + lettucetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,293 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Tomato + lettucetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,655 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + peastop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,058 recipes

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