Name: Veal Salad
Ingredients: cold veal, cut into small pieces; celery or shredded lettuce, equal amount to veal; 2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped; dressing (to taste); celery tips (for garnish); celery salt (if using cabbage)

Why it works: Celery and cabbage are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,840 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Veal Salad

Ingredients

cold veal, cut into small pieces
celery or shredded lettuce, equal amount to veal
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
dressing (to taste)
celery tips (for garnish)
celery salt (if using cabbage)

Directions

Make the salad

Cut cold veal into small pieces.
Add an equal amount of cut celery or shredded lettuce.
Mix in 2 chopped hard-boiled eggs.
Pour a good dressing over the mixture and mix well.
If using chopped cabbage instead of celery, add celery salt to the dressing.

Chill and serve

Set to cool and serve garnished with celery tips.

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.

Celery + cabbagetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,840 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Veal + celerytop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,336 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Veal + cabbagetop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together252 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Veal + eggtop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,845 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg + cabbagetop 32% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,391 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold veal: Provides the main protein and body of the salad.
Celery or shredded lettuce: Adds crisp texture and fresh moisture to the salad.
Hard-boiled eggs: Add richness and a soft, creamy texture through the salad.