Why it works: Garlic and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 14,075 recipes mention both. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 4-6Ingredients
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Finely chop the onion, garlic and red chilli. Roughly chop the capers and baby gherkins. Chop the fresh coriander and set it aside.
Heat a little oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook for 5 minutes, stirring, until soft.
Add the garlic and chilli and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly, until fragrant.
Add the chopped tomatoes, red wine vinegar and sugar. Stir well and bring to a simmer.
Reduce the heat to low-medium and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened.
Stir in the capers, gherkins and half of the chopped coriander. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Simmer for 5 more minutes, then let the relish cool. Stir in the remaining coriander before serving.
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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Garlic + tomatotop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together14,075 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together29,030 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Tomato + red winetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Tomato + peppertop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together17,913 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Red wine + vinegartop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together569 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the capers
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, garlic, tomato, red wine, vinegar, sugar, pepper):
- Thymebetter flavor fit
- Basilbetter flavor fit
- Corianderbetter flavor fit
- Capersthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against onion, garlic, tomato, red wine, vinegar, sugar, 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).
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