Why it works: Cucumber and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,405 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Tomato Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Place cucumber slices and egg whites in molds.
Pour partially congealed tomato jelly over the cucumber and egg whites.
Serve with Béarnaise sauce.
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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Cucumber + tomatotop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,405 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,469 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Cucumber + saucetop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,174 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Cucumber + eggtop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,346 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + tomatotop 34% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,890 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, egg, sauce):
- Horseradishfits better
- Chivefits better
- Lettucefits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, egg, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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