Name: Mixed Vegetable Salad I
Ingredients: 2 cups cooked rice; 1 10-ounce package frozen mixed vegetables, cooked and drained; 1 cup (4 ounces) diced Cheddar cheese; 1/4 cup finely chopped onion; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon sugar; 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard; 1/2 teaspoon seasoned pepper; 3 tablespoons vegetable oil; 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. 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 + lemontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,259 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,433 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Rice + mustardtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together599 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Cooked rice: Forms the bulk of the salad and gives it a light, separate-grained structure.
Frozen mixed vegetables: Add moisture, color and tender-crisp texture to the salad.
Cheddar cheese: Adds savory flavor, richness and chewy bite.
Vegetable oil: Provides fat that carries flavor and coats the grains for a smooth mouthfeel.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the fat.
Dijon mustard: Helps emulsify the oil and lemon juice so the dressing stays blended and adds sharpness.

The step that matters

Toss the dressed rice lightly. Gentle tossing coats the grains evenly without mashing the rice or breaking up the vegetables. Vigorous mixing can make the rice sticky and gummy.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, cheddar cheese, onion, sugar, mustard, pepper):

Avocadofits better
Limefits better
Mangofits about as well
Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, cheddar cheese, onion, sugar, mustard, 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Rice	1 cup cooked (158g) white	206
Vegetable	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Cheddar Cheese	1 oz (28g)	113
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Mixed Vegetable Salad I