Name: Waldorf Salad
Ingredients: equal quantities of finely cut apple; equal quantities of finely cut celery; mayonnaise dressing; curled celery for garnish; canned pimentoes cut in strips; lettuce leaves

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 ↓

Waldorf Salad

Ingredients

equal quantities of finely cut apple
equal quantities of finely cut celery
mayonnaise dressing
curled celery for garnish
canned pimentoes cut in strips
lettuce leaves

Directions

Prepare the salad

Mix equal quantities of finely cut apple and celery in a bowl.
Moisten the mixture with mayonnaise dressing.

Garnish and serve

Garnish with curled celery and strips of canned pimentoes.
For an attractive presentation, remove the tops from red or green apples and scoop out the inside pulp.
Refill the apple shells with the salad mixture, replace the tops, and serve on lettuce leaves.

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.

Celery + lettucetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,033 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Apple + celerytop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,155 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
Apple + lettucetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together515 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Apple: Provides crisp texture and fresh sweetness that contrasts with the richer dressing.
Celery: Adds crunch and a fresh, slightly savory bite to the salad.
Mayonnaise dressing: Adds fat and creaminess that moistens the chopped apple and celery.