Why it works: Vinegar and lettuce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,370 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Salad Dressing
Ingredients
Directions
Wash and crisp the lettuce.
Cut the lobster meat into dice and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and vinegar.
Add one-fourth of the salad dressing and mix well.
Form little mounds of the mixture on the arranged lettuce leaves.
Dress with the remaining salad dressing.
Garnish with lobster claws and, if available, pass the coral through a potato ricer and sprinkle on top.
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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Vinegar + lettucetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,370 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Lobster + meattop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together909 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Lettuce + lobstertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together411 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
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Lettuce + meattop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together579 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Vinegar + white peppertop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,154 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the white pepper
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, lettuce, lobster, meat):
- Tarragonfits better
- Capersfits better
- Celeryfits better
- White pepperthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, lettuce, lobster, meat. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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