Why it works: Tomato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,633 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Tomato Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Peel and slice the ripe tomatoes.
Arrange the tomatoes in a dish and set on ice or in a cold place.
Serve plain or with cream, French dressing, or Mayonnaise dressing.
For an alternative, layer sliced onions with the tomatoes and serve with French dressing.
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 + oniontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,633 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,827 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Tomato + creamtop 32% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,034 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Onion and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,827 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
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 (onion, cream):
- Potatofits better
- Leekfits better
- Chivefits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against onion, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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