Why it works: Lettuce and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,483 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓
Shrimp Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Peel the boiled shrimps and let them cool completely.
Arrange the shrimps in a circle on fresh lettuce leaves.
Pour mayonnaise sauce in the center.
Serve immediately.
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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Lettuce + parsleytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,483 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Shrimp + saucetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,423 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Shrimp + lettucetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together430 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Lettuce + saucetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,019 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Shrimp + parsleytop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,723 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the parsley
The recipe marks parsley as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shrimp, lettuce, sauce):
- Capersfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Garlicfits better
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against shrimp, lettuce, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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