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 the tomatoes
Pour boiling water over the tomatoes to remove the skins.
Place the skinned tomatoes on ice.
Assemble and serve
Place one tomato on a lettuce leaf.
Cut off a small portion of the top of the tomato.
Add 1 teaspoon of mayonnaise on top.
Serve.
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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Small round tomatoes
- Form the main body of the salad, with a soft, juicy interior once skinned.
- Lettuce leaves
- Provide a crisp base that holds each tomato in place.
- Mayonnaise
- Adds richness and a creamy, fatty contrast to the acidic tomato.
The step that matters
Pour boiling water over the tomatoes to remove the skins.. The tomato skin must be loosened by brief heat before it peels easily. Leaving the water on too long can soften the flesh, so the tomatoes should be dipped briefly and then chilled on ice to firm them up.
“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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