Name: Pineapple and Avocado Salad
Ingredients: 1 measure minced cooked pineapple; 1 measure raisins; 1 measure currants; Thinly sliced citron or orange peel (or both); Powdered cinnamon to taste; Powdered cloves to taste; Powdered nutmeg to taste; Syrup from sweet pickles or sweetened vinegar; Chopped bananas or apples (optional)

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Pineapple and Avocado Salad

Ingredients

1 measure minced cooked pineapple
1 measure raisins
1 measure currants
Thinly sliced citron or orange peel (or both)
Powdered cinnamon to taste
Powdered cloves to taste
Powdered nutmeg to taste
Syrup from sweet pickles or sweetened vinegar
Chopped bananas or apples (optional)

Directions

In a bowl, mix the minced cooked pineapple, raisins, currants, and thinly sliced citron or orange peel.
Add powdered cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg to taste.
Stir in syrup from sweet pickles or sweetened vinegar.
Before serving, add chopped bananas or apples if desired.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,917 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,189 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,686 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,390 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Orange + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,437 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Minced cooked pineapple: Provides the main fruit body and sweetness of the salad.
Raisins: Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness.
Currants: Add small chewy pieces and tart, concentrated fruit flavor.
Syrup from sweet pickles or sweetened vinegar: Adds sweetness and acidity that balance the fruit and spices.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pineapple, raisin, orange, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, syrup):

Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Cranberryfits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pineapple, raisin, orange, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, syrup. 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.