Why it works: Tomato and allspice work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 670 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Green Tomato Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a bowl, combine the sliced tomatoes, butter, vinegar, sugar, and allspice.
Sprinkle flour over the mixture and stir to combine.
Pour the filling into a pie crust and cover with the second crust.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown.
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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Tomato + allspicetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together670 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Vinegar + allspicetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,548 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).
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Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Tomato + vinegartop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,063 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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 (butter, vinegar, sugar, allspice):
- Mustardfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, vinegar, sugar, allspice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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