Why it works: Tomato and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 17,913 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Scotch Woodcock
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Heat the tomato and strain it.
Add the cheese, mustard, cayenne, and salt, stirring until the cheese is melted.
Stir in the slightly beaten egg.
Serve
Serve on toast.
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.
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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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Mustard + cheesetop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,805 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + cheesetop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,892 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mustard + peppertop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together15,427 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Tomato + mustardtop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,482 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
- Cheese
- Melts into the sauce to give it its rich, creamy body.
- Egg
- Thickens the warm sauce as it sets gently, adding body and richness.
- Tomato
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce, adding acidity and fresh flavour.
- Mustard
- Adds sharp, pungent flavour that balances the richness of the cheese.
The step that matters
Stir in the slightly beaten egg. Egg proteins set when heated, so the sauce thickens. If the sauce is too hot when the egg goes in, it can scramble, so add the egg while the sauce is warm rather than boiling.
Flavor stand-ins for the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mustard, cheese, pepper, egg):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Asparagusbetter flavor fit
- Potatoabout as good a flavor fit
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mustard, cheese, pepper, egg. 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.
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