Name: Vegetable All-summer Salad
Ingredients: 1 package (7 oz.) elbow macaroni; 2 cans (15 oz. each) mixed vegetables, drained; 1 cup diced cheddar cheese; 1/2 to 3/4 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing; Salt and pepper to taste

Why it works: Cheddar cheese and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,016 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Vegetable All-summer Salad

Ingredients

1 package (7 oz.) elbow macaroni
2 cans (15 oz. each) mixed vegetables, drained
1 cup diced cheddar cheese
1/2 to 3/4 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Prepare

Prepare macaroni according to package directions; drain and rinse.

Make the salad

Combine mixed vegetables and cheese.
Add mayonnaise or salad dressing and seasonings to vegetable mixture.
Toss with macaroni.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

317Calories

14 gProtein

28 gFat

2 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 7 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Vegetable	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Cheddar Cheese	1 oz (28g)	113
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Macaroni	not in our table	0
Salad Dressing	not in our table	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.

Cheddar cheese + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,016 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Elbow macaroni: Forms the bulk of the salad and gives it its chewy, starchy body.
Mixed vegetables: Adds moisture, colour and crunch-to-soft contrast throughout the salad.
Cheddar cheese: Adds savoury richness and a bit of fat that carries flavour.
Mayonnaise or salad dressing: Supplies fat and emulsified creaminess that binds the salad together.

“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.