Perfect Pairings & Recipes for
Tomato

Discover the best flavour pairings for tomato based on data analysis of thousands of recipes. Find perfect ingredient matches & delicious recipes.

Green sweetness and glutamic notes are at the forefront of tomato's flavour profile, but identifying its perfect partner requires exploring its subtle nuances. We must examine the complex interplay of notes within its bouquet, like sour apple, chlorophyll, and hints of grass. We need to understand how these notes affect each other and which complementary flavors they harmonise with.

To illuminate these harmonies, we embarked on an ambitious journey, analysing thousands of ingredients. Each was meticulously deconstructed across 150 distinct flavour dimensions, allowing us to pinpoint precisely which notes complement in both classic and unexpected ways. Our exploration reveals, for instance, how the pure, salty sodium chloride in feta can ground tomato, and how anchovy's saline notes forge a beautiful synergy with its green sweetness.

An ingredient's flavour comes from its core characteristics, like acidic, vegetal, and herbal, combined with its unique aroma notes (outer bars). When pairing ingredients, aim to include a broad variety of core characteristics for a balanced dish. And choose aroma notes that complement each other for a harmonious combination.

Unlocking Flavour Combinations

To understand how flavour notes harmonise, we analysed more than 50,000 popular ingredient combinations. By exploring these pairings, we identified specific flavour notes that frequently occur together, indicating they share a harmonious relationship.

The Flavours That Harmonise With Tomato Notes

Our analysis reveals a strong connection between tomato and brine flavours. Since tomato has a distinct tomatoey flavour, try pairing it with the briney flavours of anchovy.

The recipes below provide inspiration for pairing tomato with anchovy.

Harmonious Flavours Of Tomato

Just as our analysis found that tomato and briney flavour accents are harmonious, we can identify the full profile of flavours that harmonise with each of the flavours present in tomato. For instance, the glutamic notes of tomato are strongly associated with bay leaf and thyme-like notes.

The aromas linked to the various aroma accents of tomato can be seen highlighted in the pink bars below.

Matching Flavour Profiles

The flavour profile of feta offers many of the aromas complementary to tomato, including saline and proteolytic accents. Because the flavour profile of feta has many of the of the features that are complementary to tomato, they are likely to pair very well together.

The chart above shows the unique profile of feta across 150 dimensions of flavour, while the recipes below offer inspiration for bringing these flavours together with tomato.

Recipes That Pair Tomato With Feta

Linked Flavour Notes

Looking at the accents that are most strongly associated with the various flavours of tomato, we can identify other ingredients that are likely to pair well.

The left side of the chart above highlights the aroma notes of tomato, along with the complementary aromas associated with each note. While the right side shows some of the ingredients that share many of the aromas complementary to tomato.

What To Drink With Tomato

The saline notes in cooking wine make it a perfect pairing with tomato. Likewise, the graphite flavours in faugères create a match made in heaven. Explore a variety of ingredients below that beautifully complement the unique character of tomato below.

Which Cheese Go With Tomato?

Choose cheese that awaken its greenness or awaken its green sweetness. Feta and ricotta salata offer vibrant, clean counterpoints, their verdant freshness lifting the palate. Pecorino Romano add a gentle, oniony brightness, while halloumi introduces a sophisticated, anise-tinged elegance.

Alternatively, embrace cheese that harmonise with tomato's sweetness. The addition of mozzarella, with its subtle lacteal notes, can complement the honey beautifully, while gruyère lends a salty character.

How Flavonomics Works

We've pioneered a unique, data-driven approach to decode the intricate art of flavour pairing. Our goal is to move beyond intuition and uncover the science of why certain ingredients harmonise beautifully. This rigorous methodology allows us to provide you with insightful and reliable pairing recommendations.

Our analysis begins with over 50,000 carefully selected recipes from acclaimed chefs like Galton Blackiston, Marcello Tully, and Pierre Lambinon. This premium dataset ensures our model distils genuine culinary excellence and creativity.

Each ingredient from these recipes is deconstructed across 150 distinct flavour dimensions, creating a unique numerical "flavour fingerprint." This quantification allows us to apply advanced analytical methods to identify complex patterns between flavour notes.

We identify popular ingredient combinations that frequently appear in our recipe database. Regression analysis is then performed on these pairings to statistically validate and pinpoint truly harmonious flavours.

These insights drive our predictive model, which allows us to take any ingredient (e.g., Tomato), analyse its detailed flavour profile, and accurately reveal its complementary flavours and perfect ingredient partners.