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Dessert

Fruit Salad

A mixed fruit salad with celery, apples, oranges, grapes, pineapple, almonds, topped with maraschino cherries and a white dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and grape match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,659 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Fruit Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fruit

  1. In a large bowl, combine the celery, apples, oranges, grapes, pineapple, and almonds.

  2. Garnish with maraschino cherries.

Make the white dressing

  1. For the white dressing, heat the vinegar and butter in a double boiler.

  2. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, mustard, white pepper, and salt.

  3. Slowly add the dry mixture to the boiling vinegar, stirring constantly to avoid lumps.

  4. Once cooked, remove from heat and fold in the beaten egg whites and whipped cream.

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.

  1. Apple + grapetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,659 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Grape + pineappletop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together709 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).

  3. Apple + pineappletop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together530 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  4. Orange + pineappletop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,664 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  5. Orange + almondtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Flour
Thickens the vinegar mixture into a smooth, spoonable dressing as it cooks.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they lighten the dressing and add airy texture.
Butter
Adds richness and a smoother mouthfeel to the dressing.
Apples
Provide crisp texture and tart flavor that balances the sweet fruit.

The step that matters

Adding the dry mixture to the boiling vinegar. Adding the flour mixture too quickly or without constant stirring causes lumps, because flour clumps when it hits hot liquid before its starch disperses. Stirring steadily while adding it slowly keeps the dressing smooth.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, orange, grape, pineapple, almond, vinegar, butter):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Peppermintfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, orange, grape, pineapple, almond, vinegar, butter. 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 fruit salad recipes

Dressing 41Ambrosia 24Pineapple 21Grape 15Frozen 10Mixed 8 See all 267 →

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