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Salad

Waldorp Nut Salad

A salad of blanched almonds, apples, celery, peanuts, and a butter, egg yolk, vinegar, and mustard dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and mustard 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 ↓

Waldorp Nut Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the blanched almonds, apples, and celery stalk.

  2. In a bowl, combine the chopped almonds, apples, celery, and peanuts.

Dress and serve

  1. In a separate bowl, mix the butter, egg yolks, vinegar, and mustard until smooth.

  2. Pour the dressing over the salad mixture and toss to combine.

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.

  1. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Almond + peanuttop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together305 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetylpyrazine (roast).

  3. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Almond + mustardtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together246 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Peanut + mustardtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together102 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Emulsify with the butter and vinegar to give the dressing a smooth, thick body.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that gives the dressing a creamy, smooth mouthfeel.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the dressing and balances the richness of the butter and yolks.
Apples
Provide crisp texture and fresh sweetness to the salad.
Blanched almonds
Add crunch and a mild nutty flavor to the salad.

The step that matters

Mixing the dressing until smooth. Egg yolks, butter and vinegar must be blended thoroughly so the mixture emulsifies; if it is not whisked smooth, it can separate or turn greasy and fail to coat the salad evenly.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, celery, peanut, butter, egg, vinegar, mustard):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Limefits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, celery, peanut, butter, egg, vinegar, mustard. 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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