Why it works: Tomato and lettuce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,655 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Tomato Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Peel the tomatoes and cut them in half.
Chill the tomato halves on ice until thoroughly cold.
Prepare a good French dressing.
Assemble and serve
Place a teaspoon of pearl onions on each half of the tomato.
Serve on lettuce leaves and pour 1 tablespoon of dressing over each half.
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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Tomato + lettucetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,655 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + lettucetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,562 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,633 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
- Provide the main body of the salad, with juicy flesh that is refreshed by chilling.
- Pearl onions
- Add a sharp, aromatic bite that contrasts with the mild tomato.
- French dressing
- Adds acidity and fat, moistening the tomato and carrying flavour across the salad.
The step that matters
Chill the tomato halves thoroughly. Cold tomatoes firm up and taste fresher, and well-chilled halves hold their shape and keep the dressing from thinning and pooling as they warm.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, lettuce):
- Cucumberfits better
- Okrafits better
- Beetrootfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, 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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