Why it works: Cabbage and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 622 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Tuna Fish Salad
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl, combine the tuna fish, chopped cabbage, shredded celery, torn pimentos, and small lettuce leaves.
Mix in mayonnaise dressing and fold in whipped cream until billowy.
Garnish with crisp lettuce leaves and heap the salad on top.
Add mounds of whipped cream dressing and sprinkle with paprika.
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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Cabbage + lettucetop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together622 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Celery + lettucetop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,033 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Cabbage + celerytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,840 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Fish + lettucetop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together196 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Celery + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,863 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the cabbage
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, celery, lettuce, cream):
- Leekfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Cabbagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, celery, lettuce, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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