Name: Cucumber and Chayote Slaw
Yield: Makes 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons canola oil; 2 tablespoons unsweetened pineapple juice; 1/2 tablespoon sugar; 1 teaspoon chipotle puree (see Cook's tip); 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard; Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste; 1 large cucumber (about 12 ounces), peeled, seeded, quartered lengthwise, and thinly sliced crosswise; 1 large chayote, peeled under cold-running water to remove stickiness, pitted, quartered lengthwise, and thinly sliced crosswise; 2 cups cubed fresh pineapple

Why it works: Cucumber and chayote share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and 7 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

The recipe

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons unsweetened pineapple juice
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon chipotle puree (see Cook's tip)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 large cucumber (about 12 ounces), peeled, seeded, quartered lengthwise, and thinly sliced crosswise
1 large chayote, peeled under cold-running water to remove stickiness, pitted, quartered lengthwise, and thinly sliced crosswise
2 cups cubed fresh pineapple

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

By epicurious. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

Cucumber + chayotetop 9% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together7 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Mustard + cucumbertop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together2,279 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Mustard + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together15,427 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Canola oil + mustardtop 6% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together226 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Pineapple + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together532 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the pineapple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (canola oil, sugar, mustard, pepper, cucumber, chayote):

Limebetter flavor fit
Lemonbetter flavor fit
Avocadobetter flavor fit
Pineapplethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against canola oil, sugar, mustard, pepper, cucumber, chayote. 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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