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Salad

Qrapefbuit Salad

A salad of grapefruit segments on lettuce, dressed with olive oil, vinegar, and powdered sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Grapefruit and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

Qrapefbuit Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel and quarter the grapefruits, removing all white skin and bitter portions.

  2. Cut each quarter into two pieces and chill on ice.

Assemble and serve

  1. Arrange the grapefruit pieces on white lettuce leaves.

  2. In a bowl, mix the vinegar and olive oil in a ratio of 1:2 to make the dressing.

  3. Pour the cold dressing over the salad and sweeten with powdered sugar before serving.

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. Grapefruit + lettucetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together118 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  2. Lettuce + olivetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Grapefruit + olivetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together132 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Vinegar + olivetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,297 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  5. Lettuce + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,370 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

Grapefruits
Provide the main fruit flavour, with tart and bitter notes that the dressing balances.
Olive oil
Adds fat and body to the dressing, carrying flavour and giving it a smooth mouthfeel.
White vinegar
Adds acidity that cuts the richness of the oil and brightens the grapefruit.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness that softens the sharp acidity and bitterness of the grapefruit.

The step that matters

Pour the cold dressing over the salad and sweeten with powdered sugar before serving.. Powdered sugar dissolves easily in the dressing, so it blends evenly. Cold dressing keeps the chilled grapefruit crisp and fresh, and the salad should be served soon after dressing so the lettuce does not wilt.

Swap the grapefruit

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lettuce, sugar, vinegar, olive):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Cherryfits about as well
  3. Grapefruitthe original
  4. Plumfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against lettuce, sugar, vinegar, olive. 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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