Name: Neapolitan Salad
Ingredients: 2 cups cooked turkey, finely chopped; 2 pickles, finely chopped; 2 small beets, finely chopped; 1-2 carrots, parboiled and finely chopped; 2 small potatoes, parboiled and finely chopped; a few stalks of asparagus, chopped; 1 bunch of crisp white celery, chopped; 1 celery root, parboiled and chopped; coarse sea salt, to taste; mayonnaise dressing, to taste; lettuce leaves or white cabbage leaves, for lining; 2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced; capers, to taste; fresh parsley, for garnish

Why it works: Lettuce and capers match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 372 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

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.

Lettuce + caperstop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together372 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together10,173 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Asparagus + lettucetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together313 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Celery + lettucetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,033 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Asparagus + caperstop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together75 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Mayonnaise dressing: Coats the chopped vegetables and turkey, adding moisture, fat and richness to the salad.
Hard-boiled eggs: Add soft, creamy texture and mild richness as a topping.
Pickles: Add acidity that brightens the rich dressing and balances the sweet beets.
Beets: Add sweetness and a vivid color that tints the whole salad.
Cooked turkey: Provides the main protein and bulk, giving the salad its substance.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turkey, carrot, asparagus, celery, lettuce, egg, capers):

Leekfits better
Turnipfits better
Beetrootfits better
Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turkey, carrot, asparagus, celery, lettuce, egg, capers. 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.