Name: Salad for Cold Lamb
Ingredients: 3 large lettuces, washed and finely chopped; 1 bunch watercress; 6 young radishes, sliced; 2 sprigs tarragon leaves; 1 handful corn-salad; 12 young chives, chopped; 1 boiled beetroot, diced; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1 teaspoon sweet anchovy sauce; 1 teaspoon chili vinegar; 3 hard-boiled egg yolks, beaten with cream; Salt to taste; ½ cup vinegar

Why it works: Lettuce and beetroot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 678 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

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 + beetroottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together678 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Watercress + beetroottop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together143 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Lettuce + watercresstop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together307 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Watercress + chivetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together97 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Lettuce + tarragontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together425 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

Swap the radish

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lettuce, watercress, tarragon, corn, chive, beetroot, olive):

Shallotfits better
Spinachfits better
Mustardfits better
Radishthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lettuce, watercress, tarragon, corn, chive, beetroot, olive. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Salad for Cold Lamb