Why it works: Tomato and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,592 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Tomato Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a warm oven”. The 400°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Boil ripe tomatoes to remove the skins.
Slice the tomatoes and place them on a dish.
Sprinkle a little sugar over the tomatoes and dry them in a warm oven (400°F / 200°C).
For winter use, store dried tomatoes in bags.
Soak dried tomatoes in a little water.
Lay soaked tomatoes in the pie crust with lemon, a little flour, and sugar.
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 + lemontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,592 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Lemon + flourtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Tomato + flourtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,065 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, lemon, flour):
- Arrowrootfits better
- Kalefits better
- Shallotfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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