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Tomato Salad

Sliced tomatoes tossed with a mustard vinaigrette of oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and egg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Tomato Salad

Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Tomato Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes

  1. Pare the tomatoes with a sharp knife and slice them.

  2. Lay the sliced tomatoes in a salad bowl.

Make the dressing

  1. In a separate bowl, mix the salt, pepper, and mustard with the salad oil, adding the oil a few drops at a time.

  2. Once thoroughly mixed, whip in the beaten egg and vinegar.

Combine and serve

  1. Toss the dressing with the tomatoes using a fork.

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.

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.

  1. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Tomato + mustardtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,482 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes
Form the main body of the salad and supply moisture and fresh flavour.
Egg
Emulsifies the oil and vinegar, helping the dressing thicken and hold together.
Salad oil
Adds richness and carries flavour, and when emulsified gives the dressing body.
Mustard
Acts as an emulsifier that helps keep the oil and vinegar blended, and adds sharpness.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness of the oil.

The step that matters

Adding the oil a few drops at a time. Oil added too quickly will not emulsify with the seasonings and may separate. Adding it slowly lets the mustard and egg hold tiny oil droplets suspended, giving a smooth, stable dressing.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, mustard, egg, vinegar):

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, mustard, egg, vinegar. 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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