Name: Celery', Crab Salad
Ingredients: 1 head of celery; 2 ounces of rich old cheese, sliced thin; 1 teaspoon of mustard; 1 tablespoon of olive oil; 1 tablespoon of vinegar; pepper to taste; coarse sea salt to taste

Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Celery', Crab Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Open and wash the celery thoroughly, then wipe it dry.
Cut the celery into small pieces and place it in a bowl.
Add the sliced cheese, mustard, olive oil, vinegar, pepper, and salt.
Mix all the ingredients well.

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.

Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,169 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Mustard + olivetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,950 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,430 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

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, mustard, olive, vinegar, pepper):

Tarragonfits better
Capersfits better
Thymefits better
Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, mustard, olive, vinegar, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.