Name: Manhattan Salad
Ingredients: 1 apple, peeled and cut into cubes; ½ cup sliced celery; ¼ cup diced chicken breast; mayonnaise to taste; lettuce hearts for serving

Why it works: Celery and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,033 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

Manhattan Salad

Ingredients

1 apple, peeled and cut into cubes
½ cup sliced celery
¼ cup diced chicken breast
mayonnaise to taste
lettuce hearts for serving

Directions

In a bowl, combine the apple cubes, sliced celery, and diced chicken breast.
Add mayonnaise to the mixture and stir until well combined.
Serve the salad on lettuce hearts.

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.

Celery + lettucetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,033 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Apple + celerytop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,155 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
Apple + lettucetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together515 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Celery + chickentop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,375 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Chicken + lettucetop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,421 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Apple: Adds crisp texture and mild sweetness that contrasts with the savory chicken.
Celery: Adds crunch and a fresh, slightly savory bite to the salad.
Chicken breast: Provides the main protein and substance of the salad.
Mayonnaise: Adds fat and creaminess that binds the ingredients together and adds moisture.