Why it works: Almond and endive share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓
Pomona Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the apples into straw-shaped pieces, each one inch long.
Cut the hearts of celery into the same shape and quantity as the apples.
Combine and serve
In a bowl, combine the apples, celery, and almonds; toss together lightly.
Marinate with French Dressing No. 2 and garnish with Mayonnaise.
Serve the mixture in a nest of cress, endive, or lettuce hearts.
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.
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Almond + endivetop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together19 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
-
Celery + endivetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together160 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
-
Apple + celerytop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,155 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
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Celery + almondtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together485 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
-
Apple + almondtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,025 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Jonathan apples
- Provide the crisp, juicy base of the salad and its fresh, tart flavour.
- Hearts of celery
- Add crunch and a fresh, mildly savoury note that contrasts with the apples.
- Jordan almonds
- Add crunch and a sweet, nutty flavour to the mixture.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, almond, endive):
- Avocadofits better
- Limefits better
- Lemonfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against celery, almond, endive. 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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