Name: Waldorf Salad
Ingredients: 1 pound blanched almonds, chopped; 4 heads celery, finely chopped; ½ cup raisins, whole; 4 apples, finely chopped; mayonnaise salad dressing

Why it works: Almond and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,781 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: egg, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

1 pound blanched almonds, chopped
4 heads celery, finely chopped
½ cup raisins, whole
4 apples, finely chopped
mayonnaise salad dressing

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the chopped almonds, celery, raisins, and apples.
Mix in enough mayonnaise salad dressing to coat the ingredients evenly.
Serve chilled.

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.

The picture is an illustration, not a photo of this recipe · Contact us to use it

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Almond + raisintop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together1,781 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Celery + appletop 6% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together1,133 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
Raisin + appletop 7% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together1,920 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Almond + celerytop 9% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together485 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Almond + appletop 11% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together1,025 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Blanched almonds: Adds crunch that contrasts with the soft apples and raisins.
Celery: Adds crisp, fresh texture and moisture to the salad.
Apples: Adds crisp texture and mild sweetness.
Raisins: Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness.
Mayonnaise salad dressing: Adds fat and creaminess, coating the ingredients and binding them together.

Flavor stand-ins for the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (almond, raisin, apple):

Cinnamonbetter flavor fit
Nutmegbetter flavor fit
Clovebetter flavor fit
Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against almond, raisin, apple. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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.