Name: Basic Free Green Salad
Ingredients: 2 cup romaine lettuce, shredded; 2 cup iceberg lettuce, shredded; 1 cup spinach, shredded; 12 radiches, sliced; 1 cup curly endive; 1 cucumber sliced; 2 celery stalked, diced; optional ingredients; boston or bibb lettuce; cabbage, shredded; kale or comfrey; chicory or sorrell; lambsquarter leaves; parsley or watercress; greens; onions; tomatoes; sprouts; mushrooms, sliced; peppers, sweet; broccoli or cauliflower; summer squash, sliced; scallions or chives

Why it works: Kale and broccoli share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 75 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Kale + broccolitop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together75 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Lettuce + endivetop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together284 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Lettuce + cucumbertop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together1,409 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Lettuce + spinachtop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together427 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Cabbage + broccolitop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together171 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Romaine lettuce: Provides crisp leafy body and fresh texture to the salad.
Iceberg lettuce: Adds crunch and watery crispness to the salad base.
Spinach: Contributes tender leaves and a slightly earthy flavour.
Cucumber: Adds cool moisture and a light, crisp bite.

Flavor stand-ins for the kale

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lettuce, spinach, endive, cucumber, celery, cabbage, chicory):

Beetrootbetter flavor fit
Mustardbetter flavor fit
Chivebetter flavor fit
Kalethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lettuce, spinach, endive, cucumber, celery, cabbage, chicory. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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.