Name: Kidney-bean Salad
Ingredients: 1 can kidney beans; 3 pickles; 1 bunch celery; 3 hard-boiled eggs; 1 pint black walnut meats; egg dressing

Why it works: Celery and walnut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 852 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

Kidney-bean Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Drain and rinse the kidney beans.
Chop the pickles and celery.
Slice the hard-boiled eggs.

Assemble and dress

Combine the kidney beans, pickles, celery, eggs, and walnut meats in a bowl.
Add the egg dressing and mix well.

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 + walnuttop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together852 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Walnut + meattop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,035 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Kidney beans + celerytop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together220 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
Kidney beans + meattop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together48 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
Celery + meattop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,880 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

Kidney beans: Provide the main body and firm, starchy bulk of the salad.
Hard-boiled eggs: Add soft, creamy texture and richness that binds the salad together.
Egg dressing: Adds moisture and creamy richness, coating the other ingredients.
Pickles: Contribute acidity and a tangy bite that balances the richness.
Celery: Adds crisp texture and freshness against the softer ingredients.