Name: Tomatoes with Mushrooms
Ingredients: 4 tomatoes; 4 mushrooms; 2 tablespoons butter; 4 slices of bread

Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Tomatoes with Mushrooms

Ingredients

4 tomatoes
4 mushrooms
2 tablespoons butter
4 slices of bread

Directions

Prepare

Preheat the grill.

Grill the vegetables

Place a small piece of butter on each tomato and mushroom.
Grill for 3 to 4 minutes without turning.

Assemble the toast

Toast the bread and butter it.
Place a grilled tomato and mushroom on each slice of bread.
Pour any remaining butter or liquid from the grilling tin over the top.

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.

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.

Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Tomato + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,719 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Tomato + breadtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,013 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Mushroom + breadtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,536 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes: Soften under the heat and release juices that moisten the toast.
Mushrooms: Brown at the edges and add savoury, earthy flavour.
Butter: Carries heat across the vegetables and adds richness and browning to the toast.
Bread: Provides a crisp base that soaks up the juices and butter.