Name: Meat Salad
Ingredients: 1 cup Julienne strips of cooked; Beef, veal, or lamb; 1 cup Julienne strips of baked or; Boiled ham; 1 tbl Minced onion; 6 tbl Salad oil; 2 tbl Cider vinegar; 1/2 tsp Pepper; 1 tsp Minced parsley; 1/4 cup Heavy cream or sour cream; 1 x Hard boiled egg, sliced; 1 x Boiled or pickled beet,

Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. 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.

Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,431 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,092 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,843 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 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

Cooked beef, veal, or lamb: Provides the main meaty body and substance of the salad.
Boiled ham: Adds savoury, salty flavour and a firmer, chewy bite to the meat mixture.
Salad oil: Carries flavour and keeps the meat moist and coated.
Cider vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the fat.
Heavy cream or sour cream: Adds richness and a creamy texture that softens the sharp dressing.
Minced onion: Contributes sharp aroma and pungent flavour throughout the meat.

The step that matters

Stir cream into dressing. The cream is added to an acidic oil and vinegar mixture. Stirring gently and evenly keeps it smooth, because acid can cause dairy to thicken or separate in lumps.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, ham, onion, cider, vinegar, pepper, cream):

Garlicfits better
Celeryfits better
Tarragonfits about as well
Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, ham, onion, cider, vinegar, pepper, cream. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Lamb	100g cooked	294
Beef	100g cooked	250
Pork	100g cooked	242
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Beet	1/2 cup (85g)	35
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Veal	not in our table	0
Salad	not in our table	0
Cider	not in our table	0

Meat Salad

Meat Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the dressing

Combine and garnish

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)