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Sweet Pepper Salad

A salad of sweet peppers stuffed with cottage cheese, paprika, almonds, and served with cucumber, asparagus, and French dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Hamilton, Ohio. First Methodist Episcopal church. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and asparagus match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 203 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Sweet Pepper Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the peppers

  1. Select 4 large sweet peppers, cut off the ends, and remove the insides, leaving the cups. If very strong, let stand in cold salt water for a while.

Make the filling

  1. Mix 1 pint cottage cheese with salt to taste.

  2. Add a dash of paprika to the cheese mixture.

  3. Add a little cream to the cheese mixture and stir.

  4. Add 32 blanched almonds, halved, to the mixture.

Assemble and serve

  1. Stuff the peppers with the mixture and refrigerate until ready.

  2. Slice each stuffed pepper into 3 round slices.

  3. Arrange on a lettuce leaf: 3 asparagus tips, 3 cucumber slices, 1 stuffed pepper slice, and a thin slice of pimento.

  4. Serve with French dressing.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

62Calories
4 gProtein
1 gFat
12 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Asparagus6 spears (90g)27
Cucumber1/2 cup sliced (52g)16
Almond1 almond (1.2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 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 Hamilton, Ohio. First Methodist Episcopal church. [from old catalog]. 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 + asparagustop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together203 recipes

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

  2. Almond + asparagustop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together94 recipes

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

  3. Cucumber + almondtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together166 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Pepper + asparagustop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,968 recipes

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

  5. Cucumber + peppertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,991 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

Sweet peppers
Hollowed cups hold the filling and provide a crisp, mild vegetable base.
Cottage cheese (in the method)
Forms the creamy, mild body of the stuffing that holds the almonds in place.
Blanched almonds
Add crunch and a nutty texture to the cheese filling.
Cream (in the method)
Adds moisture and richness, loosening the cottage cheese into a smoother filling.

The step that matters

Soaking strong peppers in cold salt water. Peppers that taste strong or bitter can be softened by brief soaking in salted water, which draws out some of the harsher flavour compounds. Soaking too long can make the peppers limp and watery, so the time should be short.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Beansfits better
  2. Sesamefits better
  3. Lentilsfits better
  4. Almondthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, pepper, asparagus. 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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