Name: Pineapple Salad
Ingredients: 1 can pimento (small size); 1 cup cheese (grated); 1 slice pineapple per serving; whipped cream; salad dressing; lettuce leaves

Why it works: Pineapple and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 271 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

Pineapple Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cheese balls

Grind the cheese and pimento together.
Mix well and form into balls.

Assemble and serve

Place one cheese ball in the center of each slice of pineapple.
Drop a spoonful of whipped cream mixed with salad dressing around the pineapple.
Serve on lettuce leaves.

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.

Pineapple + lettucetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together271 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Cheese + pineappletop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together128 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cheese + creamtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,655 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cheese + lettucetop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together614 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pineapple + creamtop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,574 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Cheese: Forms the body of the cheese balls, adding richness and a savoury flavour to the salad.
Pineapple: Provides sweetness and acidity that contrast with the savoury cheese.
Whipped cream: Adds a light, creamy fat that softens the dressing around the pineapple.
Salad dressing: Adds tang and flavour to the whipped cream, giving the topping its taste.