Why it works: Lemon and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,559 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓
Sweetbread Salad
six portionsIngredients
Directions
Prepare
Clean and blanch one pair of large sweetbreads (there should be enough to make a pint when diced).
Marinate them with one tablespoonful of lemon juice, one teaspoonful oil, pepper and salt to taste, and set them on ice for an hour or more.
Assemble and serve
At serving time add an equal bulk of diced celery, enough mayonnaise to moisten well and arrange it in six portions on a bed of lettuce leaves.
Drop a teaspoonful of dressing on top of each and garnish with olives cut in spirals.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Olive Oil | 1 tbsp (14g) | 119 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
| Lettuce | 1 cup shredded (36g) | 5 |
| 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.
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.
-
Lemon + lettucetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,559 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sweetbreads
- Provide the tender, meaty base of the salad.
- Mayonnaise (in the method)
- Moistens the diced mixture and adds richness and a creamy texture.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweetbreads and balances the richness of the dressing.
- Celery (in the method)
- Adds crisp texture and a fresh, clean bite against the soft sweetbreads.
The step that matters
Blanching the sweetbreads. Blanching firms the sweetbread membranes and sets the texture so they dice cleanly and do not turn mushy or fall apart when tossed with dressing.
“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
Lemon Sauce236 recipes
Creamy Lettuce Soup8 recipes
Lettuce Soup8 recipes
Tomato Soup526 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.