Name: Tongue Salad
Ingredients: 1 pound cold boiled tongue; 1 cup string beans; 12 olives; 1 tomato; 1 head lettuce; 1 cup mayonnaise

Why it works: Olive and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Tongue Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Dice the tongue.
Chop the olives and tomato finely.
Shred the lettuce.
Slice the string beans.

Assemble

Mix all ingredients together lightly with the mayonnaise.

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.

Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Beans + tomatotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,713 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beans + lettucetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together500 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Beans + olivetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,470 recipes

Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Olive + lettucetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,580 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cold boiled tongue: Provides the main meat and substance of the salad.
Mayonnaise: Adds fat and moisture, binding the salad and giving it a creamy texture.
Lettuce: Adds crisp, cool leafy body that gives the salad its base.
String beans: Add crunch and a fresh vegetable texture.
Olives: Add salty, briny flavor that contrasts the mild meat.
Tomato: Adds juiciness and a touch of acidity.