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Salad

Ham and Cheese Salad

A salad of sliced ham, cheese, pickles, apples, tomatoes, and macaroni tossed with a sour cream sauce.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,281 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Ham and Cheese Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Slice the ham, cheese, pickles, and peeled apples.

  2. Slice the tomatoes.

  3. Boil the macaroni in a lot of salted water.

  4. Rinse the cooked macaroni with cold running water in a strainer.

Assemble

  1. Mix the sauce with the salad ingredients and garnish with tomato slices and chopped parsley.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

417Calories
27 gProtein
11 gFat
58 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 11 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Cheese1 oz (28g) cheddar113
Yogurt170g plain Greek100
Apple1 medium (182g)95
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Cucumber1/2 cup sliced (52g)16
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Saucenot 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. Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,281 recipes

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

  2. Cucumber + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,405 recipes

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

  3. Cucumber + lemontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,067 recipes

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

  4. Sauce + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Cheese + appletop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together294 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

Sour cream
Forms the creamy base of the sauce and adds moisture and tang to the salad.
Macaroni
Provides the starchy bulk of the salad, absorbing some of the sauce as it sits.
Apples
Add crisp texture and a mild sweetness that balances the tangy sauce.
Pickles
Contribute acidity and a sharp flavour that cuts through the rich sauce.

The step that matters

Rinse the cooked macaroni. Rinsing cooked pasta under cold water stops the cooking and removes surface starch, so the pieces stay separate instead of clumping into a sticky mass once the sauce is added.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, cheese, tomato, sauce, cream, lemon, mustard):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, cheese, tomato, sauce, cream, lemon, mustard. 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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