Why it works: Lettuce and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,356 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Lettuce Salad
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the dressing
Remove the yolks from the hard boiled eggs and crumble them into a bowl.
Add the sugar, butter, pepper, salt, and mustard to the yolks and mix well.
Let the mixture stand for 5 minutes.
Beat in the vinegar until well combined.
Serve
Serve the dressing over the lettuce.
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.
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.
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Lettuce + mustardtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,356 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Lettuce + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,037 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Hard boiled eggs
- Yolks crumble and blend into a rich, creamy base for the dressing.
- Butter
- Adds fat that makes the yolk mixture smoother and richer in mouthfeel.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness of the yolks.
- Prepared mustard
- Adds sharp flavour and helps emulsify the yolk mixture.
- White sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the acidity of the vinegar.
The step that matters
Beat in the vinegar until well combined. Vinegar is acidic and can make the yolk mixture separate or look curdled if added too quickly or unevenly. Beating it in gradually while the yolks are smooth helps it blend into a uniform, creamy dressing.
Swap the lettuce
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, sugar, mustard, pepper, vinegar):
- Horseradishfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Shallotfits about as well
- Lettucethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, sugar, mustard, pepper, 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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