Name: Tomato Salad
Ingredients: 6 firm medium-sized tomatoes; 1 teaspoon finely chopped parsley; 2 teaspoons salad oil; 1 tablespoon vinegar; 1 teaspoon mixed mustard; ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt; ¼ teaspoon black pepper

Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 34,122 recipes mention both. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Tomato Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the tomatoes

Scald the tomatoes in boiling water for 1 minute, then drain and remove the stems and skin.
Once cool, cut the tomatoes into thin slices and place them in a salad bowl.

Dress and serve

In a separate bowl, combine the salt, pepper, mustard, vinegar, and oil, and mix thoroughly.
Add the chopped parsley to the dressing and pour it over the tomatoes.

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.

Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Parsley + mustardtop 8% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together2,588 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Tomato + parsleytop 8% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together5,398 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Tomatoes: Provide the main body and juicy texture of the salad.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the oil.
Salad oil: Adds fat that carries flavor and coats the tomato slices.
Mixed mustard: Adds sharp flavor and helps the oil and vinegar blend into the dressing.

Flavor stand-ins for the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, parsley, vinegar, pepper):

Capsicumbetter flavor fit
Carrotbetter flavor fit
Cucumberbetter flavor fit
Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, parsley, vinegar, pepper. 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.