Why it works: Kale and chard share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 72 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
The recipe
4 servingsIngredients
Contains: milk, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
In a large bowl, whisk the cider vinegar, honey, salt, black pepper and oregano (if using) until the honey dissolves. Slowly whisk in the olive oil until the dressing is smooth.
Place the torn kale and Swiss chard in a large salad bowl. Pour in about half the dressing and massage the greens with your hands for 1 to 2 minutes until they soften slightly.
Add the sliced grilled chicken breast, raisins and toasted walnuts to the greens.
Scatter the crumbled feta over the top. Toss everything gently to combine.
Add more dressing a little at a time until the salad is lightly coated, then serve right away.
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.
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Kale + chardtop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together72 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Pepper + oreganotop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,449 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Olive + chardtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together307 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Olive + chickentop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together10,796 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid hexyl ester (sweet, green).
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Oregano + olivetop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,288 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the oregano
The recipe marks oregano as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cider, vinegar, honey, pepper, olive, kale, chard):
- Garlicbetter flavor fit
- Thymebetter flavor fit
- Rosemarybetter flavor fit
- Oreganothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cider, vinegar, honey, pepper, olive, kale, chard. 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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