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Salad

Tomato Salad

A salad of canned tomatoes and celery dressed with a seasoned egg yolk and vinegar mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Tomato Salad

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 ↓

Tomato Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Mix together the drained tomato meats and diced celery.

  2. Add salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper.

Make the dressing

  1. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks and add sugar and butter.

  2. Stir in vinegar, mustard flour, and flour.

  3. Cook while stirring until the mixture thickens.

Finish and serve

  1. After cooling, add cream or whipped cream.

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.

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.

  1. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together3,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the dressing and add richness when cooked with the vinegar mixture.
Flour
Helps thicken the dressing as it cooks with the egg yolks.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor of the dressing and the salad.
Sugar
Balances the acidity of the vinegar with sweetness.
Cream
Adds richness and a softer texture to the cooled dressing.

The step that matters

Cook while stirring until the mixture thickens. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if overheated or left unstirred. Constant stirring over gentle heat lets the starch and yolk proteins thicken the dressing smoothly.

Flavor stand-ins for the celery

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

  1. Tarragonbetter flavor fit
  2. Parsleyabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Thymeabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, meat, pepper, egg, sugar, butter, vinegar. 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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