Name: Spinach Salad with Scallops and Apples
Ingredients: vegetable cooking spray; 1¼ pounds (600 g) sea scallops; 2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive oil; 1 tablespoon (15 ml) water; 2 tablespoons (30 ml) fresh lemon juice; 1 teaspoon (5 ml) Dijon mustard; 8 cups (24 g) baby spinach, washed, stems removed, and drained on paper towels or spun dry; 1 large tart apple, such as Fuji or Granny Smith, cored and chopped; 2 tablespoons (16 g) slivered almonds, toasted; freshly ground pepper

Why it works: Lemon and pepper 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.

Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Mustard + spinachtop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together503 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Spinach + almondtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together352 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Olive + spinachtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Olive + almondtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,875 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Sea scallops: Provide the main protein, which turns opaque and firm when broiled.
Baby spinach: Forms the leafy base of the salad, adding bulk and a fresh, mild flavor.
Olive oil: Carries the flavor of the dressing and coats the leaves, adding richness.
Fresh lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the oil.
Dijon mustard: Helps the oil and lemon juice emulsify into a smoother dressing.
Tart apple: Adds crisp texture and tart sweetness that contrasts with the scallops.

The step that matters

Broil the scallops until just opaque. Scallops are lean and turn rubbery when overcooked. Cutting into one to check that it is opaque throughout shows when it is done, so it stays tender.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (scallop, olive, lemon, mustard, spinach, almond, pepper):

Avocadofits better
Limefits better
Cherryfits better
Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against scallop, olive, lemon, mustard, spinach, almond, 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
Vegetable	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Shrimp	100g cooked	99
Apple	1 medium (182g)	95
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Spinach	1 cup raw (30g)	7
Almond	1 almond (1.2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Water	not in our table	0

Spinach Salad with Scallops and Apples