Name: Cucumber and Radish
Ingredients: 2 cucumbers; 6 red radishes; Lettuce; French dressing

Why it works: Cucumber and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,409 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Cucumber and Radish

Ingredients

2 cucumbers
6 red radishes
Lettuce
French dressing

Directions

Prepare

Wash and peel the cucumbers.
Cut off the pointed ends of the cucumbers.
Slice the cucumbers into thin slices halfway through.
Wash and slice the radishes into very thin slices.

Assemble and serve

Place a slice of radish between each slice of cucumber.
Serve on a bed of lettuce with French dressing.

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.

Cucumber + lettucetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,409 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cucumber + radishtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together212 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Radish + lettucetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together58 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers: Provide the crisp, watery bulk of the salad.
Red radishes: Add a sharp, peppery bite that contrasts with the mild cucumber.
French dressing: Adds acidity and sweetness and moistens the salad.