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Salad

Mixing Salads

A salad of shredded lettuce and cucumber with grape leaves, tendrils, oil, salt, vinegar, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Lettuce and cucumber match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,409 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Mixing Salads

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and dry the lettuce and cucumber.

  2. Shred the lettuce and cucumber into fine thread-like pieces.

  3. Add tender grape leaves and tendrils for flavor.

Dress and serve

  1. In a bowl, combine oil, salt, and a small amount of vinegar to taste.

  2. Dress the salad with the mixture and toss gently.

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. Lettuce + cucumbertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,409 recipes

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

  2. Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,734 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  3. Lettuce + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,037 recipes

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

  4. Grape + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,909 recipes

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

  5. Cucumber + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,991 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

Lettuce
Forms the crisp, leafy base of the salad.
Cucumber
Adds moisture and a cool, crunchy texture.
Grape leaves
Contribute a tangy, slightly sour flavor and tender texture.
Oil
Carries flavor and coats the leaves to give a silky mouthfeel.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the oil.

The step that matters

Dress the salad with the mixture and toss gently. Thin, shredded greens wilt and bruise easily. Tossing gently and dressing just before serving coats the leaves evenly without crushing them or drawing out excess water, keeping the salad crisp.

Swap the grape

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lettuce, cucumber, vinegar, pepper):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Cherryfits better
  4. Grapethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lettuce, cucumber, vinegar, pepper. 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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