Why it works: Lettuce and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,370 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Wilted Lettuce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lettuce
Carefully pick over the lettuce and place it in a vegetable dish.
Cut the lettuce across 3 or 4 times.
Make the hot dressing
Fry the ham until well browned and cut it into small pieces.
Pour the vinegar into the pan and bring it to a boil.
Immediately pour the hot vinegar over the lettuce.
Serve
Cover closely and serve hot.
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.
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Lettuce + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,370 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Vinegar + hamtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together737 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-methylbutanol (malty, whiskey).
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Lettuce + hamtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together276 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lettuce
- Forms the body of the dish and wilts when the hot vinegar is poured over it.
- Vinegar
- Adds sharp acidity that balances the richness of the ham and the flavor of the greens.
- Ham fat
- Adds savory flavor and richness, and browning the ham builds a deeper aroma.
The step that matters
Pour the boiling vinegar over the lettuce immediately. Hot acid quickly softens and wilts the leaves. If the vinegar cools or the pour is delayed, the lettuce stays crisp and uneven, and covering it promptly keeps the steam in to finish the wilting.
Swap the lettuce
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, ham):
- Mustardfits better
- Cucumberfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Lettucethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, ham. 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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