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Salad

Asian Pear Salad

A salad of Asian pears, baby greens, and a ginger‑vanilla vinaigrette.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Pear and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 334 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Asian Pear Salad

serves four

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pear base

  1. Cook the pears, shallot, ginger, and water in a 250 g saucepan over medium heat until soft.

  2. Strain the mixture and set aside to cool.

  3. Once cooled, puree one of the pears and strain through a sieve.

  4. Remove the seeds from the vanilla bean and mix them into the puree.

  5. Discard the vanilla pod.

Make the dressing

  1. Add the sherry vinegar and mirin and process in a blender or food processor.

  2. Slowly add the oil to emulsify.

  3. Season with salt and pepper.

Assemble and serve

  1. Dice the remaining pear for garnish.

  2. Toss the baby greens well with the pear mixture.

  3. Divide among four serving plates.

  4. Garnish with shredded carrot (if using) and diced pear.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

181Calories
2 gProtein
0 gFat
38 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 12 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Asian Pear1 medium (178g)101
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Shallot1 tbsp minced (10g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Ginger1 tsp grated fresh (2g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Beannot in our table0
Soybean Oilnot 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. Pear + vanillatop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together334 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  2. Shallot + gingertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together565 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Pear + gingertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together452 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Vanilla + sherrytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together506 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  5. Ginger + soybeantop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together33 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Asian pears
Provide the main body of the salad and its sweet, fresh flavor.
Soybean oil
Forms an emulsion with the pear puree, giving the dressing a smooth, coating texture.
Sherry vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the sweet pear and balances the dressing.
Vanilla bean
Adds aromatic flavor to the pear puree.
Baby greens
Provide the leafy base that the dressing coats.

The step that matters

Slowly add the oil to emulsify. Adding oil slowly while blending lets small droplets disperse evenly in the pear puree. Adding it all at once can cause the dressing to separate instead of becoming smooth and cohesive.

Swap the soybean

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pear, shallot, ginger, vanilla, sherry, vinegar, pepper):

  1. Chestnutfits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Sesamefits better
  4. Soybeanthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pear, shallot, ginger, vanilla, sherry, 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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