Name: Saladea LA Rvsse
Ingredients: 1 pint green peas; 1 carrot; 2 white turnips; 1 tablespoon vinegar; 3 tablespoons oil; ½ teaspoon coarse sea salt; a pinch of pepper

Why it works: Carrot and turnip are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 8,001 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Shell the green peas.
Pare the carrot and turnips, then slice them into 1‑inch thick pieces.
Use a small tin tube to stamp the slices into little cylinders.

Cook and arrange

Boil the vegetables as directed in the previous recipe.
Arrange the boiled vegetables neatly on a salad dish.

Dress and serve

In a bowl, mix the vinegar, oil, salt, and pepper to make the dressing.
Pour the dressing over the salad just before serving.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Carrot + turniptop 2% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together8,001 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Carrot + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together14,555 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Peas + carrottop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together2,994 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Peas + turniptop 6% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together1,350 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Vinegar + peppertop 6% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together27,805 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Green peas: Form the bulk of the salad and add sweetness and a tender texture.
Carrot: Adds sweetness, colour and a firm bite that holds its shape.
White turnips: Contribute a mild, slightly peppery flavour and a firm texture.
Oil: Carries flavour in the dressing and coats the vegetables, adding a silky mouthfeel.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the sweet vegetables and balances the oil.

Flavor stand-ins for the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, turnip, vinegar, pepper):

Beansbetter flavor fit
Lentilsabout as good a flavor fit
Peasthe original
Chickpeaabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, turnip, vinegar, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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.