Why it works: Tomato and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 3,377 recipes mention both. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Vegetarian Veal Loaf
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Chop the walnuts, celery, and onion using a food chopper.
In a bowl, combine the chopped mixture with stewed tomatoes, eggs, salt, pepper, and butter.
Mix in the boiled rice until well combined.
Transfer the mixture to a baking dish and cover it.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 1 hour, uncovering for the last 30 minutes.
Serve with sauce made from the liquid part of the tomatoes.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,377 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Walnut + celerytop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together852 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Tomato + ricetop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,065 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together18,518 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (walnut, tomato, celery, egg, pepper, rice, butter):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Carrotbetter flavor fit
- Lettucebetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against walnut, tomato, celery, egg, pepper, rice, butter. 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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