Why it works: Pear and lettuce share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓
Peae Salad
one pear per personIngredients
Directions
Prepare
Select one medium-sized pear for each person.
Wipe and peel the pears.
Cut the pears into thin slices crosswise.
Assemble and serve
Arrange the slices in their original shapes on lettuce leaves.
Serve with French Dressing.
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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Pear + lettucetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together92 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pears
- Provide the main fruit body and sweet, juicy flesh for the salad.
- Lettuce leaves
- Form a crisp base that holds the pear slices in place.
- French dressing
- Adds acidity and sweetness to moisten and flavour the pears.
The step that matters
Arrange the slices in their original shapes. Pears brown quickly once cut because enzymes react with oxygen in the air. Slices should be assembled and served promptly, and the dressing adds moisture, so the presentation holds best when the pears are not left sitting exposed.
“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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