Name: Russian Salad Dressing
Ingredients: 1 hard-boiled egg, finely chopped; ½ cup oil mayonnaise; ½ cup chili sauce; ½ cup chopped beets; ½ cup whipped cream; 2 tablespoons chopped chives; 2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Why it works: Chive and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,150 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Russian Salad Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

Finely chop the hard-boiled egg, beets, chives, and parsley.
In a bowl, mix equal parts of oil mayonnaise, chili sauce, chopped ingredients, and whipped cream.

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.

Chive + parsleytop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,150 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Sauce + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,787 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Egg + chivetop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,624 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Sauce + chivetop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together461 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,765 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

Oil mayonnaise: Provides the emulsified fat base that gives the dressing its body and creaminess.
Chili sauce: Supplies tangy sweetness, acidity, and the dressing's reddish color.
Whipped cream: Adds airiness and a lighter, looser texture to the dressing.
Beets: Add earthy sweetness and a deep pink color.
Hard-boiled egg: Adds richness and a soft, rounded texture to the dressing.