Name: Tomato Canape
Ingredients: slices of ripe tomatoes; French dressing; pâté de foie gras; Neufchâtel cheese or other soft cheese; anchovies; paprika

Why it works: Tomato and cheese are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,896 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Tomato Canape

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Marinate the tomato slices in French dressing.

Assemble and serve

Take a thick slice of tomato and spread it with pâté de foie gras.
Cover the pâté with Neufchâtel cheese or other soft cheese that has been passed through a ricer.
Garnish with a ring of anchovies and sprinkle liberally with paprika.

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.

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.

Tomato + cheesetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,896 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

Slices of ripe tomatoes: Form the base of each canapé, providing moisture and fresh acidity.
Pâté de foie gras: Adds rich, fatty flavour and a smooth, spreadable layer over the tomato.
Neufchâtel cheese or other soft cheese: Forms a creamy, mild layer that softens the richness of the pâté.
Anchovies: Contribute a salty, savoury note that contrasts with the sweet tomato.

“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.