Name: Suffolk Salad
Ingredients: very tender lettuces, shredded small; lean ham, minced; hard-boiled eggs, minced (or yolks only); English salad dressing; cold chicken, cut in thin slices (optional)

Why it works: Ham and chicken are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,497 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Suffolk Salad

Ingredients

very tender lettuces, shredded small
lean ham, minced
hard-boiled eggs, minced (or yolks only)
English salad dressing
cold chicken, cut in thin slices (optional)

Directions

Fill a salad bowl half to three-quarters full with the shredded lettuces, minced ham, and minced hard-boiled eggs, layering them alternately.
Dress the mixture with English salad dressing just before serving.
If desired, add thin slices of cold chicken.

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.

Ham + chickentop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,497 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Lettuce + chickentop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,421 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,526 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Lettuce + hamtop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together276 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Egg + chickentop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,991 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).