Why it works: Olive and tomato 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 ↓
Tomato Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dressing
Mash the yolks of the boiled eggs into a smooth paste.
Gradually mix in the salt, cayenne pepper, sugar, mustard, and olive oil.
Beat the raw egg until frothy and stir it into the mixture.
Add the vinegar last.
Prepare and chill
Peel the tomatoes and slice them into ¼-inch thick slices.
Chill the dish on ice while preparing the dressing.
Stir ice into the dressing until it is cold, then remove the ice.
Cover the tomatoes with the dressing and return to the ice until ready to 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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Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,539 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + olivetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,950 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 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
- Egg yolks
- Mashed into a paste, they bind the dressing and give it a smooth, rich body.
- Raw egg
- Beaten until frothy, it adds air and emulsifies the oil into the dressing for a creamy texture.
- Olive oil
- Adds fat that carries flavour and helps form a smooth, emulsified dressing.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that sharpens the dressing and balances the richness of the eggs and oil.
- Mustard
- Adds sharp flavour and helps hold the emulsion together.
- Tomatoes
- Provide the main body and fresh, juicy flavour of the salad.
The step that matters
Adding the raw egg. Beaten raw egg must be whisked until frothy and stirred in gradually so it blends evenly; added in a lump or unbeaten, it will not emulsify and the dressing can separate.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, pepper, sugar, mustard, olive, vinegar):
- Capsicumfits better
- Horseradishfits better
- Lettucefits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pepper, sugar, mustard, olive, 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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