Name: Boiled Beef Salad
Ingredients: a teaspoonful of lemon juice; one-half inch dice; one part olive oil; three parts vinegar; vinegar; lemon juice; salt; pepper

Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Boiled Beef Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Cut boiled beef into one-half inch dice.
Soak the diced beef for two hours in a mixture of one part olive oil, three parts vinegar, a teaspoonful of lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste.

Assemble and serve

Mix the soaked meat with cold boiled potatoes cut the same size as the meat, and a small onion chopped fine.
Garnish with lettuce leaves and stuffed olives.
Pour over mayonnaise just before serving.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

140Calories

1 gProtein

14 gFat

5 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 5 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
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 Olive M. Hulse. 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.

Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Lemon + olivetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,922 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Olive + vinegartop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,297 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,263 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef (in the method): Provides the main protein and substance of the salad.
Olive oil: Adds fat and richness, carrying flavor through the dressing.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that sharpens flavor and softens the meat as it soaks.
Mayonnaise (in the method): Adds fat and creaminess, giving the salad moisture and a smooth coating.

The step that matters

Soaking the diced beef. Two hours in an acidic marinade lets vinegar and lemon juice season the meat and loosen its surface. Soaking much longer can make the texture mushy and sour, so timing matters.

Swap the lemon

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

Limefits about as well
Lemonthe original
Cherryfits about as well
Mangofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, vinegar, pepper. 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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Boiled Beef Salad