Why it works: Lettuce and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,370 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Dutch Lettuce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the lettuce and soak it until crisp.
Cut the bacon into small bits and brown in a hot frying pan.
Dress and serve
Add 1 tablespoon of mild vinegar for each 2 tablespoons of bacon fat.
Pour the mixture over the thoroughly drained lettuce.
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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Lettuce + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,370 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lettuce
- Forms the crisp leafy base, which soaking helps firm up through water uptake.
- Bacon
- Its rendered fat and browned bits add savory flavor and richness to the dressing.
- Mild vinegar
- Adds acidity that sharpens the warm bacon fat and balances its richness.
The step that matters
Drain the lettuce thoroughly. Leftover water on the leaves dilutes the warm bacon fat and vinegar mixture, making the dressing thin and uneven and softening the lettuce.
“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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