Name: Chicken, Snowpeas and Vinaigrette
Ingredients: 1 cup tender, fresh snow peas, washed, lightly steamed or blanched; 1 cup fresh bean sprouts; 1 cup cooked chicken breast in 1 inch strips; 15 or more pitted green olives, more to taste, chopped; 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar or fresh lemon juice; 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; (optional) 1 tsp mustard (classic French vinaigrette has this); (optional) 1 clove of garlic, peeled and minced fine; (optional) 1 tsp fresh ginger, minced; salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste; 8 oz cooked linguine or pasta of your choice

Why it works: Clove and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. 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.

Clove + gingertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,038 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Mustard + garlictop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,053 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Garlic + gingertop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,402 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Chicken + garlictop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,850 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

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

What each ingredient does

Extra virgin olive oil: Forms the emulsified dressing base and adds richness and body to the salad.
White wine vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the oil.
Linguine: Provides the starchy bulk that carries the dressing and fills out the salad.
Snow peas: Contribute crisp texture and fresh sweetness when briefly cooked.
Chicken breast: Supplies cooked protein that makes the salad a main dish.
Green olives: Add salty, briny flavour that contrasts with the sweet peas and mild chicken.

The step that matters

Blanching the snow peas. Brief boiling followed by cold water stops cooking quickly, keeping the peas bright green and crisp. Leaving them too long turns them dull and soft.

Swap the mustard

The recipe marks mustard as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (peas, chicken, olive, white wine, clove, garlic, ginger):

Tomatofits better
Shallotfits better
Capsicumfits better
Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against peas, chicken, olive, white wine, clove, garlic, ginger. 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
Pasta	1 cup cooked (140g)	220
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Pea	1/2 cup (72g)	62
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Olive	1 large (4g)	4
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Ginger	1 tsp grated fresh (2g)	2
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Bean	not in our table	0

Chicken, Snowpeas and Vinaigrette