Why it works: Lettuce and olive match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,580 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓
Macedonian Lettuce Salad with Yoghurt
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lettuce
Separate the leaves on the lettuce, wash them thoroughly and dry them.
Tear each of the bigger leaves in half and arrange in a bowl.
Dress and serve
Not more than 5 minutes before you're ready to eat, sprinkle the salt over the lettuce and beat the oil, lemon juice and sugar into the yoghurt.
Pour the yoghurt over the lettuce and toss gently and serve rapidly.
The lettuce will wilt if kept for more than 10 minutes in this dressing, but before then its crispness and the creaminess of the dressing complement each other wonderfully.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Olive Oil | 1 tbsp (14g) | 119 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
| Lettuce | 1 cup shredded (36g) | 5 |
| Olive | 1 large (4g) | 4 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
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Lettuce + olivetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,580 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
-
Lemon + olivetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,922 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Lettuce + lemontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,559 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
-
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Lettuce + sugartop 29% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,486 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lettuce
- Provides the crisp, fresh leaves that form the body of the salad.
- Yoghurt
- Forms a creamy dressing that coats the leaves and adds richness.
- Olive oil
- Adds fat that smooths the yoghurt dressing and carries flavour.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the creamy dressing.
- Sugar
- Adds a little sweetness that balances the acidity of the lemon juice.
The step that matters
Dress the lettuce at the last moment. Salt draws water out of lettuce leaves and the acid and moisture of the dressing soften them, so the leaves wilt if left too long. Timing the dressing close to serving keeps the leaves crisp.
Swap the lettuce
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, lemon, olive):
- Capsicumfits better
- Kalefits better
- Broccolifits better
- Lettucethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon, olive. 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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