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 ↓
Lettuce Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pick over and wash each lettuce leaf carefully.
Place the leaves in a cheesecloth bag and shake until dry.
Keep the lettuce in a cool place until ready to serve.
Serve
Arrange the larger leaves around the edge of a salad bowl and the smaller ones in the center.
Serve with boiled dressing or a mixture of sugar, salt, and vinegar to taste.
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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Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Lettuce + sugartop 29% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,486 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lettuce leaves
- Form the bulk of the salad and carry the dressing.
- Boiled dressing or sugar
- Adds sweetness and body to the dressing.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that balances the sweetness of the dressing.
The step that matters
Shake the leaves until dry. Water left on lettuce dilutes the dressing and makes it slide off, so the leaves should be thoroughly dried before serving.
Swap the lettuce
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, vinegar):
- Mustardfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Cucumberfits better
- Lettucethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, vinegar. 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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