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 ↓
Tomato Omelet
Ingredients
Directions
Make the tomato filling
Fry the onion in the butter until soft.
Add the sliced tomatoes and cook until soft.
Rub the mixture through a sieve, season with salt and pepper, and reheat.
Finish the omelet
Pour the tomato mixture onto the omelet before folding it over.
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 + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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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 + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomatoes
- Break down into a smooth sauce that provides moisture and bright acidity to the omelet.
- Butter
- Carries the onion's flavor and adds richness to the filling.
- Onion
- Adds savory aroma and sweetness as it softens in the butter.
The step that matters
Rub the mixture through a sieve. Tomato and onion must be cooked until soft so they pass easily through the sieve. Pressing them through removes seeds and skin, leaving a smooth filling that will not make the omelet watery or lumpy.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, onion, pepper):
- Potatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Chivefits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, onion, 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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