Name: Tomato Omelet
Ingredients: 1 quart tomatoes; 2 chopped onions; 1 egg-sized lump of butter; 1 cup grated bread; ¼ teaspoon pepper; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt'); 2 egg yolks

Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Tomato Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Pour boiling water over the tomatoes, then peel and finely chop them.
In a pot, combine the chopped tomatoes, onions, and butter; let them boil for 30 minutes.
Mash the mixture, then stir in the grated bread, pepper, salt, and egg yolks.

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.

Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + breadtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,013 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 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: Supply the main body and moisture, cooking down into a soft, saucy base.
Egg yolks: Bind the mixture and help it set into a thick, cohesive texture.
Grated bread: Absorbs liquid and adds body, helping the mixture hold together.
Butter: Adds fat and richness to the cooked tomato and onion base.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, egg, butter, bread, pepper):

Capsicumfits better
Asparagusfits better
Potatofits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, egg, butter, bread, 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.