Why it works: Potato and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,798 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Winter Breakfast.— No. 3
Ingredients
Directions
Broil the Kennebec salmon steaks until cooked through.
Prepare scalloped potatoes by layering sliced potatoes with cream and cheese, then bake until golden.
Serve hot rolls warm.
Fry the oysters until golden brown and serve on rolled bread.
Brew coffee and English breakfast tea.
Broil sweetbreads and serve with tomato sauce.
Make biscuits and serve warm.
Prepare an omelet with Parmesan cheese.
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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Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,798 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Coffee + teatop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together259 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methyl-3-(methyldithio)furan (thiamin, meat).
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Salmon + oystertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together672 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Bread + tomatotop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,013 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Potato + teatop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together136 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, oyster, bread, coffee, tea, tomato, sauce):
- Cucumberfits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Potatothe original
- Asparagusfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, oyster, bread, coffee, tea, tomato, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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