Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 17,923 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Tomato Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Peel and slice the tomatoes, and lay them in a dish.
Make the dressing
Mix the sugar, salt, mustard, and pepper with the cream.
Add the yolk of egg to the mixture.
Gradually add the vinegar.
Serve
Pour the dressing over the tomatoes.
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.
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Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together17,923 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Tomato + mustardtop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,482 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tomatoes
- Form the bulk of the salad and supply juicy, fresh texture.
- Egg yolk
- Helps bind the cream and vinegar into a smooth, thickened dressing.
- Cream
- Adds fat for a rich, smooth dressing that clings to the tomatoes.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and cuts the richness of the cream.
- Mustard
- Adds sharp flavor and helps stabilize the emulsified dressing.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar and mustard.
The step that matters
Gradually add the vinegar. Adding vinegar slowly to the yolk and cream mixture lets the ingredients emulsify smoothly. Pouring it in all at once can cause the dressing to separate or curdle, leaving it thin and grainy.
Flavor stand-ins for the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, sugar, pepper, egg, cream, vinegar):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Cucumberabout as good a flavor fit
- Mustardthe original
- Spinachabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, sugar, pepper, egg, cream, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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