Why it works: Beans and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 500 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓
Macedoine Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the peas, string beans, cauliflower, and beets separately until tender.
Separate the cauliflower into flowerets, cut the beans in half, and dice the beets into small squares.
Let all the vegetables cool completely, then marinate them.
Before serving, drain any excess dressing and mix the vegetables with mayonnaise.
Create small cups using the lettuce leaves and fill each cup with a spoonful of each vegetable, reserving the cauliflower for the center.
Serve the mayonnaise on the side, not mixed with the salad.
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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Beans + lettucetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together500 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Cauliflower + lettucetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together151 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Beans + cauliflowertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together290 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Peas + cauliflowertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together313 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Peas + beanstop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together949 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beans, cauliflower, lettuce):
- Lentilsfits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Chickpeafits about as well
- Peasthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against beans, cauliflower, lettuce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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