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Salad

Sliced Cucumbers with Fresh Mint

A chilled cucumber salad tossed with vinegar, oil, red pepper flakes, and fresh mint.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and rice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 734 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Sliced Cucumbers with Fresh Mint

TimeRefrigerate up to 6 hours

Ingredients

Directions

Make the salad

  1. Toss together cucumbers, vinegar, oil, salt, and red pepper flakes in a large bowl.

  2. Refrigerate up to 6 hours.

Serve

  1. Before serving, toss well, then pour off excess liquid.

  2. Add mint and toss again.

  3. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

  4. Garnish with mint leaves.

  5. Serve chilled.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

146Calories
1 gProtein
14 gFat
5 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 6 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Cucumber1/2 cup sliced (52g)16
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
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. Cucumber + ricetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together734 recipes

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

  2. Cucumber + minttop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together884 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,734 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  4. Pepper + minttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,372 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,379 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Provide the crisp, watery bulk of the salad.
Seasoned rice vinegar
Adds acidity and sweetness that brighten the cucumbers.
Oil
Adds fat and carries flavor across the cucumber slices.
Fresh mint
Contributes a cool, aromatic herbal flavor.

The step that matters

Pour off excess liquid before serving. Salt draws water out of cucumbers, so after chilling they release liquid that can dilute the dressing and make the salad soggy. Pouring it off before adding mint keeps the dressing concentrated and the texture crisp.

Swap the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, rice, vinegar, pepper):

  1. Dillfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Turmericfits better
  4. Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, rice, vinegar, pepper. 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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