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Salad

Russian Salad

A chilled salad of vegetables set in a gelatinous dressing, served on lettuce leaves with mayonnaise.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Russian Salad

Why it works: Celery and lettuce 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 ↓

Russian Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Make the gelatine base

  1. Soak gelatin in cold water for a few minutes.

  2. Add boiling water, salt, and celery extract.

  3. Cook for a few minutes.

  4. Set aside to cool until partially set.

Mold and serve

  1. Wet a mold.

  2. Layer gelatin and cold vegetables alternately.

  3. Finish with a layer of tomatoes.

  4. Serve on lettuce leaves with mayonnaise 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

  1. Celery + lettucetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,033 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  2. Celery + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,377 recipes

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

  3. Tomato + lettucetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,655 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Gelatine
Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable structure that holds the vegetable layers together.
Assorted cold vegetables
Provide the main texture and substance of the salad inside the set gelatine.
Tomatoes
Add moisture and a fresh, slightly acidic flavour to the top layer.
Mayonnaise dressing
Adds fat and richness that balances the lean gelatine and vegetables.

The step that matters

Let the gelatine partially set before layering. If the gelatine is still liquid, the vegetables sink and the layers mix; if it has set fully, the layers will not bond. Partial setting holds the vegetables in place while keeping the layers joined.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, lettuce):

  1. Mustardfits better
  2. Beetrootfits better
  3. Turnipfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, lettuce. 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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