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Greek Tomato Cheese

A melted cheddar cheese with tomato sauce, cayenne pepper, and salt served hot on buttered toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Greek Tomato Cheese

Ingredients

Directions

Make the cheese sauce

  1. Melt the cheddar cheese in a pan with the butter until smooth.

  2. Add the tomato sauce, cayenne pepper, and salt, mixing well.

Serve

  1. Serve the cheese mixture hot on squares of buttered toast.

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.

  1. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Cheddar cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,436 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Cheddar cheese + tomatotop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,865 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Tomato + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,469 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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

What each ingredient does

Cheddar cheese
Melts into a smooth, rich base that carries the sauce.
Butter
Adds fat that helps the cheese melt smoothly and adds richness.
Tomato sauce
Adds moisture and mild acidity that brightens the flavor of the cheese.

The step that matters

Melt the cheese slowly. Cheddar can turn grainy or oily if it gets too hot or heats too fast, because the proteins tighten and fat separates. Melting gently over low heat keeps the mixture smooth and cohesive.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheddar cheese, butter, sauce, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits about as well
  3. Mustardfits about as well
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cheddar cheese, butter, sauce, pepper. 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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