Name: Suffolk Salad
Ingredients: tender lettuce, shredded; lean ham, minced; hard-boiled eggs, minced (or yolks only); English salad sauce; cold chicken, thinly sliced (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

tender lettuce, shredded
lean ham, minced
hard-boiled eggs, minced (or yolks only)
English salad sauce
cold chicken, thinly sliced (optional)

Directions

Fill a salad bowl halfway to three-quarters full with shredded lettuce.
Layer in minced ham and minced hard-boiled eggs (or yolks only) alternately.
Dress the mixture with English salad sauce just before serving.
If desired, add thinly sliced 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 + saucetop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,019 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ham + saucetop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,314 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Tender lettuce: Forms the crisp, bulky base that the other layers rest on.
Lean ham: Adds savory, salty flavor and a firm, meaty texture to the layers.
Hard-boiled eggs: Add rich, creamy texture and mild savoriness that balances the lean meat.
English salad sauce: Supplies moisture and tangy, seasoned flavor that coats the salad.