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Salad

Nasturtium Salad

A cucumber-based salad with tomato, onion, cabbage, nasturtium leaves, and white mayonnaise dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cucumber and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,405 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Nasturtium Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel the cucumbers and cut them in half lengthwise.

  2. Scoop out the seeds and place them in ice-cold water until ready to serve.

  3. For each cucumber, chop 1 peeled tomato, 4 or 5 medium-sized nasturtium leaves, and 1 small onion.

Assemble and serve

  1. Mix these vegetables with ½ cup of white mayonnaise dressing.

  2. Fill each cucumber boat with the salad mixture.

  3. Garnish with nasturtium leaves and blossoms instead of lettuce.

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.

  1. Cucumber + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,405 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Cucumber + cabbagetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together722 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Onion + cabbagetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,001 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Cucumber + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Tomato + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Hollowed halves form the edible boats that hold the salad.
Nasturtium leaves
Provide a peppery flavour and are used both in the salad and as garnish.
White mayonnaise dressing
Adds fat and creaminess that binds the chopped vegetables together.
Tomato
Adds moisture and a mild acidity to the chopped salad filling.

The step that matters

Keeping the cucumber boats chilled. Cucumbers are high in water and soften or wilt when warm, so keeping the shells in ice-cold water until serving helps them stay crisp and hold the filling.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, tomato, onion):

  1. Lettucefits better
  2. Okrafits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, tomato, onion. 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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