Why it works: Lettuce and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,356 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
To Dress Lettuce As Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lettuce
Strip off the outer leaves of the lettuce and wash it.
Split the lettuce in half and soak it in cold water until dinner.
Drain the lettuce and place it in a salad dish.
Cut the hard-boiled eggs in half and lay them on the lettuce.
Make the dressing
In a bowl, mash the yolks of the eggs with a wooden spoon.
Mix in 2 tablespoons of water and 6 tablespoons of sweet oil.
Gradually add ¼ teaspoon of coarse sea salt, 1 teaspoon of mustard, and 1 teaspoon of powdered sugar, mixing until smooth.
Slowly add 3 tablespoons of vinegar to the mixture.
Assemble and serve
Finely chop the lettuce and mix it with the dressing.
If prepared in advance, place the dressing in the bottom of the salad dish, then add the chopped salad on top and let it rest until serving.
Decorate the top with slices of red beet and rings of the egg whites.
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.
-
Lettuce + mustardtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,356 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Lettuce + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,370 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Mustard + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,424 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lettuce
- Forms the bulk of the salad and provides crisp, cool texture once chopped and dressed.
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Yolks are mashed into the dressing for richness and body; whites add mild texture as garnish.
- Sweet oil
- Adds fat and smoothness, carrying flavour and coating the leaves.
- Mustard
- Adds sharp flavour and helps the mashed yolk emulsify into a smooth dressing.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the rich yolk and oil dressing.
The step that matters
Adding the vinegar slowly. Adding acid gradually while mixing helps the yolk and oil stay emulsified; pouring it in all at once can cause the dressing to separate and turn thin.
Swap the lettuce
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, mustard, sugar, vinegar):
- Horseradishfits better
- Cucumberfits about as well
- Shallotfits about as well
- Lettucethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, mustard, sugar, vinegar. 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.
You might also like
Chicken Salad623 recipes
Salad Dressing491 recipes
Tomato Salad179 recipes
Cold Slaw160 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.