Why it works: Mustard and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,356 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Tomato Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dressing
Mix sugar, salt, red pepper, mustard, cream, beaten eggs, and vinegar.
Cook over boiling water until thick like custard.
Put the mixture on ice.
Serve
When ready to serve, pour over peeled sliced tomatoes placed on lettuce leaves.
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.
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Mustard + lettucetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,356 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + lettucetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,655 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 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
- Eggs
- Thicken the dressing into a custard-like sauce as they set when heated.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, creamy body to the dressing.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that sharpens the dressing against the sweet tomatoes.
- Sugar
- Balances the sharpness of the vinegar and mustard with sweetness.
- Tomatoes
- Provide the fresh, juicy base that the dressing is poured over.
The step that matters
Cook over boiling water until thick like custard. Egg proteins set gradually with gentle heat. Cooking too fast or too hot can scramble the eggs into lumps, so the mixture should be stirred and kept over simmering rather than boiling water.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, pepper, mustard, cream, egg, vinegar, lettuce):
- Horseradishfits better
- Beetrootfits better
- Cucumberfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, pepper, mustard, cream, egg, vinegar, lettuce. 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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