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Salad

Nasturtium Salad

A cucumber boat salad with tomato, onion, cabbage, nasturtium leaves, and mayonnaise dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By North End Club (Chicago, Ill.) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,405 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Nasturtium Salad

one-half cucumber for each person

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Take cucumbers, peel them and cut in halves lengthwise.

  2. Scoop out all the seeds and lay in ice cold water until ready to serve. (One-half cucumber for each person to be served.)

  3. For each cucumber chop fine 1 peeled tomato, 4 or 5 medium sized nasturtium leaves, 1 small onion and ½ cup chopped cabbage.

Dress and fill

  1. Make a white mayonnaise dressing.

  2. Mix ½ cupful of it with vegetables.

  3. Fill each cucumber boat with salad.

Garnish

  1. Use nasturtium leaves and blossoms for garnishing instead of lettuce.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

82Calories
3 gProtein
0 gFat
18 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Cucumber1/2 cup sliced (52g)16

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By North End Club (Chicago, Ill.). Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

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. Cucumber + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,405 recipes

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

  2. Cucumber + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,050 recipes

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

  3. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 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

Cucumber
Forms the crisp, watery shell that holds the salad.
Mayonnaise (in the method)
Provides fat and creamy body that coats the chopped vegetables.
Tomato
Adds juice to moisten the filling.
Onion
Adds sharp aroma and savory bite to the filling.
Cabbage (in the method)
Adds crunch and bulk to the filling.

The step that matters

Chill the cucumber boats in ice water. Cold water keeps the cucumber cell walls firm, so the boats stay crisp rather than going limp before they are filled and served.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, tomato):

  1. Lettucefits better
  2. Eggplantfits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, tomato. 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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