Skip to main content
Salad

Bacon and Lettuce Salad

A salad of Boston lettuce and crispy bacon tossed in a vinaigrette of white balsamic vinegar, shallot, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, and olive oil.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Mustard and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,356 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Bacon and Lettuce Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the bacon

  1. Cook bacon in a 12‑inch nonstick skillet over moderate heat, stirring, until crisp.

  2. Transfer bacon with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain, discarding fat from skillet.

Dress and toss

  1. Whisk together vinegar, shallot, mustard, salt, and pepper in a large bowl, then add oil in a slow stream, whisking until emulsified.

  2. Add lettuce and bacon and toss well.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

143Calories
1 gProtein
14 gFat
5 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Shallot1 tbsp minced (10g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Lettuce1 cup shredded (36g)5
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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. Mustard + lettucetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,356 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Shallot + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together859 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Shallot + lettucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together157 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  4. Olive + lettucetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Bacon (in the method)
Renders fat for cooking and crisps to add savory, salty crunch to the salad.
White balsamic vinegar
Provides the acidity that sharpens the dressing and balances the richness of the oil and bacon.
Extra-virgin olive oil
Forms the body of the dressing, carrying flavor and coating the lettuce.
Dijon mustard
Acts as an emulsifier that helps the oil and vinegar stay combined.
Boston lettuce
Forms the leafy base of the salad, providing a tender, cool texture.

The step that matters

Add the oil in a slow stream while whisking. Adding oil slowly while whisking breaks it into tiny droplets that the mustard can hold in suspension, creating a stable emulsion. Dumping it in at once lets the oil separate from the vinegar, leaving a greasy, unevenly dressed salad.

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, mustard, pepper, olive, lettuce):

  1. Broccolifits better
  2. Cucumberfits better
  3. Horseradishfits about as well
  4. Shallotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, mustard, pepper, olive, lettuce. 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.

You might also like

Chicken SaladChicken Salad623 recipesSalad DressingSalad Dressing491 recipesTomato SaladTomato Salad179 recipesCold SlawCold Slaw160 recipes