Name: Tomato Salad
Ingredients: Salt to taste; Pepper to taste; 2 teaspoons vinegar; 2 tablespoons olive oil

Why it works: Vinegar and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and 12,297 recipes mention both. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓

Tomato Salad

Ingredients

Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
2 teaspoons vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions

Season the salad with salt and pepper to taste.
Add vinegar and stir well.
Gradually add olive oil while stirring continuously.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Vinegar + olivetop 10% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together12,297 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Pepper + olivetop 11% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together30,263 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together27,814 recipes

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