Why it works: Pepper and lettuce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,037 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Stuffed Pepper Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Remove seeds and veins from the green peppers.
Mash the Neufchatel cheese and season with salt, pepper, and a little cream.
Line the insides of the peppers with pimento and stuff them with the cheese mixture.
Chill the stuffed peppers in the refrigerator.
Slice and serve
Slice the chilled peppers into rings using a sharp knife.
Serve two or three rings on a lettuce leaf with French dressing.
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.
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Pepper + lettucetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,037 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Cheese + creamtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,655 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Pepper + cheesetop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,861 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Cheese + lettucetop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together614 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Pepper + creamtop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together21,449 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Pepper and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Green peppers
- Hollowed shells that hold the filling and give the salad its crisp, fresh bite.
- Neufchatel cheese
- Creamy filling that holds its shape when chilled and gives a mild, tangy richness.
- Pimento
- Lines the peppers, adding sweet flavour and a bright red colour.
The step that matters
Chill the stuffed peppers before slicing. Chilling firms the soft cheese filling so it holds its shape when cut. Slicing warm peppers would let the filling smear and spill out of the rings.
Swap the lettuce
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, cheese, cream):
- Capsicumfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Potatofits better
- Lettucethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, cheese, cream. 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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