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Salad

Tomato Salad with Peas

A fresh salad of tomatoes, peas, celery, apples, nut meats, and dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,377 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Tomato Salad with Peas

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Slice off the stem end of the tomatoes to remove the pulp.

  2. Strain the pulp and mix it with the peas, celery, salt, nut meats, and apples.

Make the filling

  1. Add salad dressing and toss the mixture with a fork.

Serve

  1. Fill the tomato shells with the mixture when ready to serve.

  2. Top with a little extra dressing.

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.

  1. Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

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

  2. Tomato + peastop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,058 recipes

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

  3. Celery + appletop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,155 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  4. Peas + celerytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Tomato + appletop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together548 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

Tomatoes
Form the edible shell and release juice that moistens the filling.
Peas
Add a tender, slightly sweet bite to the filling.
Celery
Adds crisp texture that contrasts with the soft tomato.
Nut meats
Add crunch and richness to the filling.
Apples
Add sweetness and a crisp, juicy bite.
Salad dressing
Adds moisture and fat that coat the filling and bind it together.

The step that matters

Removing the pulp from the tomatoes. Tomato walls are thin, so cutting too deep or squeezing too hard can tear the shell. An intact shell holds the filling and keeps it from leaking juice onto the plate.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, peas, celery, meat):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Lemonfits better
  3. Cherryfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, peas, celery, meat. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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