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Cracked Wheat Salad

A salad of soaked bulgur wheat mixed with onion, scallions, tomatoes, mint, parsley, lemon juice, olive oil, and black olives.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Cracked Wheat Salad

Time2 to 3 hours

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the wheat

  1. Soak the bulgur wheat in 1 quart cold water for 15 minutes or until soft.

  2. Place the soaked wheat in a large sieve lined with cheesecloth and squeeze out the extra moisture.

  3. Transfer the wheat to a mixing bowl.

Make the salad

  1. Add the grated onion, finely chopped scallions, peeled, seeded, and chopped tomatoes, chopped fresh mint leaves, chopped parsley, salt, and pepper to taste, then blend the mixture thoroughly.

  2. Mix the lemon juice and olive oil together, pour over the wheat mixture and toss with a fork.

  3. Adjust seasoning as needed.

Rest and serve

  1. Let the salad stand 2 to 3 hours in a cool place (refrigerator) before serving.

  2. Garnish with black olives when serving.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

208Calories
3 gProtein
14 gFat
20 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 10 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Olive1 large (4g)4
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Wheatnot in our table0
Peppermintnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Tomato + olivetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Mint + lemontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,998 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Bulgur wheat
Forms the bulk of the salad and absorbs the dressing and juices as it softens.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and softens the bulgur further.
Olive oil
Adds fat that coats the grains and carries flavor.
Parsley
Contributes fresh, herbal flavor and bulk to the salad.
Tomatoes
Add moisture and sweet-acidic flavor that blends into the wheat.

The step that matters

Squeezing the soaked wheat. Bulgur left too wet will dilute the dressing and turn soggy. Squeezing out the extra water lets the lemon and oil season the grains properly and keeps the texture light.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wheat, tomato, mint, parsley, pepper, lemon, olive):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against wheat, tomato, mint, parsley, pepper, lemon, olive. 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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