Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Lettuce and Radish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lettuce
Wash lettuce well, place in cold water, and set on ice or in the cellar for at least an hour before use.
Dry the leaves with a soft towel.
Tear the leaves into convenient pieces with a silver fork; do not cut with a knife.
Make the dressing
Prepare a dressing of equal parts lemon juice and sugar, diluted with a little ice water.
Alternatively, prepare a dressing of thin cream and sugar in a ratio of three or four tablespoonfuls of cream to one teaspoonful of sugar.
After the sugar has dissolved, add a very little lemon juice to the cream dressing to thicken it slightly, if desired.
Arrange the salad
Wash young and tender radishes thoroughly.
Arrange the radishes in a glass dish with the taper ends meeting.
Scatter bits of cracked ice among the radishes.
Leave an inch of stem on the radishes for convenience in handling.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 3 of 5 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Vegetable | 1 tbsp (14g) | 120 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Leaf | not in our table | 0 |
| Plant | not in our table | 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.
-
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lettuce (in the method)
- Forms the crisp, leafy base of the salad.
- Radishes (in the method)
- Add crisp texture and a peppery bite to the salad.
- Thin cream
- Gives the cream dressing richness and body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the dressing and balances the sharpness of the lemon juice.
- Lemon juice (in the method)
- Adds acidity that brightens the lemon dressing.
The step that matters
Tearing the lettuce with a silver fork. Cut edges of lettuce leaves brown quickly and bruise, while torn edges stay crisper. Keeping the leaves cold and dry also helps them stay crisp, since wet leaves dilute the 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.
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