Name: Cheese Salad or Mock Crab
Ingredients: ½ pound of peeled shrimp; ¼ pound of good old cheese; 1 tablespoon of salad oil; 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper; 1 teaspoon of salt; 1 teaspoon of white sugar; 1 teaspoon of made mustard; 4 tablespoons of celery vinegar; 1 onion for garnish

Why it works: Mustard and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Cheese Salad or Mock Crab

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Mince the shrimp and grate the cheese.

Make the salad

Stir the salad oil, cayenne pepper, salt, white sugar, and made mustard into the cheese.
Add the celery vinegar last and let the mixture stand for 10 minutes.
Fold in the minced shrimp before serving.
Garnish with sliced onion.

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.

Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,169 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Mustard + oniontop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,259 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Shrimp: Provides the main protein and seafood flavor that makes up the body of the salad.
Cheese: Adds richness, savory flavor and body that binds the salad together.
Celery vinegar: Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and balances the richness of the cheese.
Made mustard: Adds sharp, pungent flavor that cuts through the fat of the cheese.
Salad oil: Adds fat that makes the mixture smoother and carries flavor.

The step that matters

Add the celery vinegar last. Acid added early can sharpen and thin the mixture unevenly, so adding it last after the oil, spices and cheese are blended gives a more even flavor and texture. Letting it stand allows the flavors to meld.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shrimp, cheese, pepper, sugar, mustard, celery, vinegar):

Capsicumfits better
Lettucefits better
Horseradishfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shrimp, cheese, pepper, sugar, mustard, celery, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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Cheese Salad or Mock Crab