Why it works: Tomato and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Cream Salad Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the olive oil, salt, sugar, and vinegar together.
Beat in the tomato catsup.
Gradually add the cream, beating it in until smooth.
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.
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Tomato + olivetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,539 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Vinegar + olivetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,297 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
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Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Vinegar + tomatotop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,063 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cream
- Adds richness and body, giving the dressing a smooth, creamy texture.
- Olive oil
- Adds fat that gives the dressing a smooth mouthfeel and carries flavor.
- Vinegar
- Provides acidity that gives the dressing its tang and brightness.
- Tomato catsup
- Adds tomato flavor, sweetness, and a thicker body to the dressing.
The step that matters
Gradually add the cream. Cream added all at once to acidic vinegar and catsup can curdle or separate. Adding it slowly while beating keeps the emulsion smooth.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, cream, olive):
- Mustardfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Cucumberfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, cream, olive. 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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