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Salad

Perfection Salad

A chilled salad of celery, cabbage, pimentos, French peas, and gelatin, seasoned with vinegar, lemon juice, sugar, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By United Methodist Church (Grayville, Ill.) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,467 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Perfection Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Make the gelatin base

  1. Dissolve one-half box of gelatin in one-half cup cold water.

  2. Add one-half cup vinegar, juice of one lemon, one pint boiling water, one-fourth cup sugar, and a teaspoon of salt.

Assemble and serve

  1. Stir in two cups chopped celery, one cup chopped cabbage, one can shredded pimentos, and one can French peas.

  2. Mold in cups and serve.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

92Calories
2 gProtein
0 gFat
23 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Cabbage1 cup shredded (89g)22
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

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

By United Methodist Church (Grayville, 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. Celery + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,467 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Celery + cabbagetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,840 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Vinegar + cabbagetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Cabbage + lemontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together397 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Vinegar + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Gelatin
Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable mold that holds the vegetables in place.
Celery
Adds crisp texture that stays firm within the set gelatin.
Cabbage
Adds crunchy texture and bulk to the salad.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and balances the sugar.
Sugar
Sweetens the dish and balances the acidity of the vinegar and lemon.
Lemon
Adds bright acidity and citrus aroma to the gelatin base.

The step that matters

Dissolve the gelatin fully before adding the other liquids. Gelatin only sets properly when fully dissolved and evenly distributed. Undissolved granules create weak or grainy patches, so the mold may not hold its shape.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, celery, lemon):

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Broccolifits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, celery, lemon. 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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