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Samphire Salad

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Samphire Salad

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a salad bowl, layer the chopped ham, veal, and bacon.

  2. Sprinkle each layer with samphire oil and French dressing.

  3. Add a layer of chopped egg after each oil and dressing layer.

  4. Repeat the layering process until the bowl is full.

  5. Shape the top into a pyramid and garnish with egg yolk quarters and egg white rings.

  6. Arrange beetroot half circles around the edge.

  7. Dust with chopped parsley and a little cayenne pepper.

  8. Add olives and capers if desired.

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.

  1. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Cabbage + beetroottop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together377 recipes

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

  3. Beetroot + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together745 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

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

  5. Parsley + olivetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,649 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

Swap the beetroot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, veal, cabbage, egg, parsley, pepper, olive):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Beetrootthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, veal, cabbage, egg, parsley, pepper, olive. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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