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Salad

Manhattan Salad

A cold salad of chopped beef or veal, apples, celery, almonds, pecans, and egg yolks, dressed with mayonnaise and served on lettuce with orange garnish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and pecans match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 431 recipes. Both carry 2,3-pentanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Manhattan Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Keep all ingredients cold and separate until just before serving.

Assemble and serve

  1. In a large bowl, combine the beef or veal, apples, celery, almonds, pecans, and egg yolks.

  2. Toss everything lightly with a silver fork.

  3. Mix with mayonnaise dressing to achieve the desired consistency.

  4. Serve on a bed of lettuce and garnish with bits of orange.

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. Almond + pecanstop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Apple + celerytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,155 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).

  3. Celery + almondtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together485 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  4. Beef + celerytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,370 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Apple + almondtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,025 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Cooked beef or veal
Provides the main protein and savoury bulk of the salad.
Apples
Add crisp texture and a mild sweetness that balances the savoury meat.
Celery
Contributes crunch and a fresh, slightly sharp flavour.
Almonds
Add crunch and a toasted, nutty flavour.
Pecans
Add crunch and a rich, buttery nuttiness.
Hard-boiled egg yolks
Add richness and a creamy texture that binds with the dressing.

The step that matters

Keep all ingredients cold and separate until just before serving. Cold ingredients stay firm and crisp, and apples and celery soften and release moisture if mixed early. Holding the dressing back until serving prevents the salad from becoming watery and limp.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, celery, almond, pecans, egg):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, celery, almond, pecans, egg. 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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