Cucumber Salad

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.

1. Cucumber + vinegartop 8% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together4,734 recipes

   Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

2. Cucumber + peppertop 12% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together5,991 recipes

   Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

3. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

4. Pepper + creamtop 23% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together21,449 recipes

   Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

5. Vinegar + creamtop 25% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together4,064 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

Swap the cucumber

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

1. Capsicumfits better
2. Mustardfits better
3. Horseradishfits about as well
4. Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, vinegar, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.