Name: Salad of Lettuce and Veal
Ingredients: 1 pound cold veal; 1 head of lettuce; 2 eggs; 2 tablespoons oil; 1 teaspoon celery salt; 1 teaspoon pepper; 2 tablespoons cream

Why it works: Lettuce and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,033 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

Salad of Lettuce and Veal

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Cut the cold veal into long strips and sprinkle with salt.
Shred the lettuce, but do not chop too finely.
In a bowl, mix the veal and lettuce together.

Dress and serve

Prepare the dressing by beating the eggs and adding oil, celery salt, and pepper.
Pour the dressing over the salad and toss gently until well combined.
Transfer the salad to a serving dish and drizzle with cream.

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.

Lettuce + celerytop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,033 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Lettuce + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,037 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Celery + creamtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,863 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
Veal + celerytop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,336 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold veal: Forms the main protein body of the salad, giving it substance and a tender bite.
Lettuce: Provides crisp texture and fresh bulk that contrasts with the meat.
Eggs: Beaten into the dressing to emulsify the oil and add richness and body.
Oil: Adds fat and moisture, carrying flavour and coating the leaves and meat.
Cream: Adds richness and a smooth, mild moisture to the finished salad.

The step that matters

Toss gently after adding the dressing. Lettuce leaves bruise and wilt easily under pressure, so gentle folding keeps them crisp while still coating them evenly with the dressing.

Swap the lettuce

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, egg, celery, pepper, cream):

Carrotfits better
Spinachfits better
Capsicumfits better
Lettucethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, egg, celery, pepper, 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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Salad of Lettuce and Veal