Name: Nut Salad
Ingredients: 1 cup nuts; 1 cup apples, chopped fine; ½ cup celery, chopped fine; mayonnaise dressing

Why it works: Apple and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,155 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol, which smells clove, smoky. The science ↓

Nut Salad

Ingredients

1 cup nuts
1 cup apples, chopped fine
½ cup celery, chopped fine
mayonnaise dressing

Directions

In a bowl, mix the nuts, chopped apples, and chopped celery thoroughly.
When ready to serve, pour mayonnaise dressing over the mixture.

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.

Apple + celerytop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,155 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
Nuts + celerytop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together169 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Nuts + appletop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together237 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Nuts: Add crunch and a rich, toasty flavor to the salad.
Apples: Add crisp texture and a mild sweetness that balances the richness of the dressing.
Celery: Adds crisp texture and a fresh, slightly sharp note.
Mayonnaise dressing: Adds fat and moisture that coats the other ingredients and binds them together.