Name: Beet Salad
Ingredients: 1 can Strawberry Beets, cut into ½ inch cubes; 1 pound shelled pecans, broken into pieces; boiled salad dressing; finely shredded red cabbage; French Dressing

Why it works: Strawberry and pecans work together. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 105 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Beet Salad

Ingredients

1 can Strawberry Beets, cut into ½ inch cubes
1 pound shelled pecans, broken into pieces
boiled salad dressing
finely shredded red cabbage
French Dressing

Directions

Prepare

Marinate and season the beets with French Dressing.
In a bowl, combine the marinated beets and broken pecans.

Serve

Serve with boiled salad dressing on top.
Garnish with finely shredded red cabbage.

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.

Strawberry + pecanstop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together105 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Strawberry + cabbagetop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Pecans + cabbagetop 29% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Beets: Provide the main body, colour and sweet earthy flavour of the salad.
Pecans: Add crunch and a rich, buttery note that contrasts with the soft beets.
Boiled salad dressing: Adds creamy moisture and tang that coats the beets and pecans.