Why it works: Cabbage and celery 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 ↓
Waldorf Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Chop the cabbage very fine.
Pare and chop the apples.
Mix and dress
Mix the cabbage, apples, nut meats, and celery together.
Add the salad dressing and mix well.
If more liquid is needed, add sweet cream.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Cabbage + celerytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,840 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Apple + celerytop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,155 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
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Cabbage + appletop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together235 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Celery + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,863 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
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Meat + celerytop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,880 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cabbage
- Forms the crisp, bulky body of the salad.
- Apples
- Add crunch and a mild sweetness that balances the dressing.
- Nut meats
- Contribute crunch and richness to the mix.
- Salad dressing
- Provides moisture and fat that bind and flavour the salad.
- Celery
- Adds crisp texture and a fresh, slightly savoury note.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cabbage, meat, celery, cream):
- Avocadofits better
- Limefits better
- Lemonfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cabbage, meat, celery, cream. 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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