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Mandarin Orange Watergate Salad

"Mandarin oranges and maraschino cherries give this creamy Watergate salad a burst of color and flavor perfect for the holiday table."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pineapple and mandarin orange match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 125 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

The recipe

12 servings
Prep15 min

Ingredients

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Drain the crushed pineapple and mandarin oranges well, pressing out excess liquid, then pat the mandarin oranges dry with paper towels.

  2. In a large bowl, combine the pineapple, mandarin oranges, sliced maraschino cherries, miniature marshmallows, and half of the shredded coconut. Stir until evenly mixed.

  3. Add the whipped topping and fold gently with a spatula until no streaks remain and the salad is evenly coated.

  4. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 1 hour so the marshmallows soften and the salad sets.

  5. Before serving, stir gently and sprinkle the remaining coconut over the top. Keep chilled until serving.

By allrecipes. 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.

  1. Pineapple + mandarin orangetop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together125 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Pineapple + coconuttop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together651 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Mandarin orange + coconuttop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together41 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the coconut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pineapple, mandarin orange):

  1. Orangebetter flavor fit
  2. Strawberrybetter flavor fit
  3. Mangobetter flavor fit
  4. Coconutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pineapple, mandarin orange. 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).