Name: A Wholesome Summer Salad
Ingredients: 1 pound beef; ½ pound fresh lettuce; 1 teaspoon salt; ½ teaspoon pepper; 2 tablespoons vinegar; 4 tablespoons salad oil

Why it works: Lettuce and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,037 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

A Wholesome Summer Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Cut the beef into thin slices.
Chop the lettuce.
In a salad bowl, combine the beef and lettuce.

Dress and serve

Season with salt, pepper, vinegar, and salad oil.
Stir gently with a fork and spoon until well mixed.
Serve immediately.

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.

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 + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,037 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Lettuce + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,370 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Beef + lettucetop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together662 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).