Name: A Wholesome Summer Salad
Ingredients: two tablespoonfuls of vinegar; a pound of beef into thin slices; a pound of white; a teaspoonful of salt; salt; pepper; vinegar

Why it works: Beef and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

A Wholesome Summer Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Cut up a pound of beef into thin slices.
Cut up half a pound of white fresh lettuce.
Put the beef and lettuce in a salad bowl.

Dress and serve

Season with a teaspoonful of salt, half that quantity of pepper, two tablespoonfuls of vinegar, and four of good salad oil.
Stir all together lightly with a fork and spoon.
When well mixed, it is ready to serve.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

259Calories

26 gProtein

15 gFat

2 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 4 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Beef	100g cooked	250
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

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

By Goff, May Perrin, [from old catalog] ed. 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.

Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Vinegar + beeftop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,895 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

Beef: Forms the savory, substantial body of the salad.
White lettuce: Provides crisp, cool leaves that give the salad its fresh texture.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the oil.

“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.