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Salad

Mixed Salad

A salad of chicory, tomato, poached egg, chili sauce, French dressing, and macedoine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Mixed Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Assemble the salad

  1. Place chicory salad as a foundation on a plate.

  2. Top with a large slice of tomato.

  3. Add an ice cold poached egg on top of the tomato.

  4. Add a dab of chili sauce on the egg.

Dress and finish

  1. In a bowl, mix oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper to make French dressing.

  2. Cover the salad with the French dressing.

  3. Arrange macedoine mixed with French dressing around the salad.

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.

  1. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Chicory + peppertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together78 recipes

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

  3. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Tomato + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,469 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Chicory + tomatotop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Poached egg
Provides a soft, rich yolk that adds body and richness to the salad.
Oil
Carries flavour and gives the French dressing a smooth, coating texture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the oil.
Tomato
Adds juiciness and a fresh, slightly acidic sweetness to the salad.

The step that matters

Add the ice cold poached egg on the tomato. A cold egg keeps its shape and yolk when plated, so it holds on the tomato without spreading. Serving it too warm or too late can make the yolk run into the dressing.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicory, egg, sauce, vinegar, pepper):

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicory, egg, sauce, vinegar, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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