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Salad

Cucumber Salad

A salad of sliced cucumber dressed with olive oil, vinegar, salt, and white pepper, garnished with nasturtium leaves and flowers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By T. R. Allinson · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Olive and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,297 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓

Cucumber Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel and slice a cucumber.

  2. Mix together 1/2 teaspoonful of salt, 1/4 teaspoonful of white pepper, and 2 tablespoonfuls of olive oil. Stir the mixture well.

  3. Add 1 tablespoonful of vinegar very gradually, stirring continuously.

Serve

  1. Put the sliced cucumber into a salad dish.

  2. Garnish with nasturtium leaves and flowers.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

128Calories
0 gProtein
14 gFat
2 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
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 T. R. Allinson. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Olive + vinegartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,297 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  2. Vinegar + white peppertop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Olive + white peppertop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together586 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumber (in the method)
Forms the crisp, watery body of the salad.
Olive oil
Adds fat and smooth body to the dressing, carrying flavour.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the dressing against the richness of the oil.

The step that matters

Adding the vinegar. Vinegar must be added very gradually while stirring so the oil and vinegar emulsify into a smooth dressing instead of separating into a greasy layer.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, vinegar. 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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