Name: Mexican Chop Salad with a Cilantro Vinagrette
Ingredients: 2 heads romaine lettuce, chopped; 1 cup pinto beans, cooked and drained; 3 tomatoes, chopped; 1 red onion, chopped; 2 cups corn, grilled and cut off the cob; 1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped; 2 avocados, sliced; 1 cucumber, diced; 1 part lemon juice; 3 parts extra virgin olive oil; 1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro; salt and pepper to taste

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 ↓

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.

Lettuce + cucumbertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,409 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Lettuce + avocadotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together464 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Avocado + cucumbertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together299 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Beans + tomatotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,713 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Lettuce + beanstop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together500 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lettuce, beans, tomato, corn, pepper, avocado, cucumber):

Capsicumfits better
Spinachfits better
Beetrootfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lettuce, beans, tomato, corn, pepper, avocado, cucumber. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Avocado	1 medium (150g)	240
Pinto Bean	1/2 cup (86g) canned	122
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Corn	1/2 cup kernels (82g)	77
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Bell Pepper	1 medium (119g)	31
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Romaine Lettuce	1 cup shredded (36g)	5
Cilantro	1 tbsp chopped fresh (1g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Mexican Chop Salad with a Cilantro Vinagrette