Name: Cheese and Lettuce Salad
Ingredients: 3 leaves of lettuce, chopped; 1 teaspoon salt; 1 cheese (or 4 tablespoons cheese); ½ teaspoon paprika; toasted bread crumbs

Why it works: Cheese and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,130 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cheese and Lettuce Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Make the balls

Mix the chopped lettuce, salt, cheese, and paprika in a bowl.
Roll the mixture into balls.
Cover the balls with toasted bread crumbs.

Serve

Serve plain or on lettuce leaves with dressing.

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.

Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,130 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Lettuce + breadtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together602 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Lettuce + cheesetop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together614 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Lettuce: Adds fresh, crisp bulk and moisture to the salad.
Cheese: Adds richness and helps the mixture hold together when rolled into balls.
Toasted bread crumbs: Forms a dry, toasted outer coating that adds crunch and texture.