Name: Meat Loaf with Rice, Peas and Tomato Sauce
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon celery salt or 2 tablespoons finely cut fresh celery; 1 cup bread crumbs; 1 small onion, finely chopped; 1 teaspoon salt; Pepper to taste; 1 cup rice; Peas, heated and seasoned; Tomato sauce, rich and well-seasoned

Why it works: Celery and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,377 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Meat Loaf with Rice, Peas and Tomato Sauce

Oven, in the book's wordsA medium oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a medium oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, combine celery salt (or fresh celery), bread crumbs, onion, salt, and pepper.
Press the mixture into a bread pan to form a mold.
Bake for 1 hour.
Cook the rice according to package instructions.
Once the meatloaf is done, mold the rice over the top like frosting.
Arrange the heated peas around the loaf.
Serve with rich, well-seasoned tomato sauce.

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.

Celery + tomatotop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,377 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Rice + tomatotop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,065 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 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

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, bread, onion, pepper, rice, tomato, sauce):

Beansfits better
Chickpeafits better
Black-eyed peafits better
Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, bread, onion, pepper, rice, tomato, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.