Why it works: Endive and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 121 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓
Endive Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Add fresh endives to a bowl.
In a separate bowl, mix vinegar, olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, French mustard, paprika, and salt.
Pour the dressing over the endives and toss to combine.
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.
-
Endive + mustardtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together121 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
-
Endive + olivetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together209 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
-
Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Olive + mustardtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,950 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Vinegar + olivetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,297 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Endives
- Provide the crisp, slightly bitter leaves that form the body of the salad.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that sharpens the dressing and balances the richness of the oil.
- Olive oil
- Adds fat and smoothness, carrying flavour through the dressing and coating the leaves.
- French mustard
- Helps emulsify the oil and vinegar and adds a sharp, pungent note.
Swap the endive
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, olive, sauce, mustard):
- Horseradishfits better
- Lettucefits better
- Shallotfits better
- Endivethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, olive, sauce, mustard. 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.
More endive salad recipes
You might also like
Chicken Salad623 recipes
Salad Dressing491 recipes
Tomato Salad179 recipes
Cold Slaw160 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.