Skip to main content
Salad

Pecan Salad

A cold salad of chopped pecans, olives, and red pepper with mayonnaise dressing served on lettuce leaves or in pepper cases.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By United Methodist Church (Grayville, Ill.) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Pecans and olive work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 716 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Pecan Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the pecans finely.

  2. Pit the olives.

  3. Chop the red pepper finely.

Assemble and serve

  1. Mix the pecans, olives, red pepper, and mayonnaise dressing.

  2. Serve cold on lettuce leaves or in pepper cases.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

32Calories
1 gProtein
3 gFat
2 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Pecan1 half (4g)20
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Olive1 large (4g)4

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. Pecans + olivetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together716 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  2. Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,263 recipes

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

  3. Pecans + peppertop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together396 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

What each ingredient does

Pecans
Provide crunchy texture and a rich, nutty flavor.
Olives
Add salty, briny flavor that contrasts with the rich dressing.
Red pepper
Adds crisp texture and a mildly sweet, fresh flavor.
Mayonnaise dressing (in the method)
Binds the ingredients together and adds moisture and richness.

Swap the pecans

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, pepper):

  1. Black-eyed peafits better
  2. Chickpeafits better
  3. Beansfits better
  4. Pecansthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, 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.

You might also like

Chicken SaladChicken Salad623 recipesSalad DressingSalad Dressing491 recipesTomato SaladTomato Salad179 recipesCold SlawCold Slaw160 recipes