Name: Pineapple Salad
Ingredients: 1 cup pecans; 1 cup celery, chopped; 2 cups pineapple, chopped; mayonnaise dressing

Why it works: Pecans and pineapple work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 294 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Pineapple Salad

Ingredients

1 cup pecans
1 cup celery, chopped
2 cups pineapple, chopped
mayonnaise dressing

Directions

Chop the pecans and celery.
Chop the pineapple.
Mix the chopped pecans, celery, and pineapple with mayonnaise dressing.

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.

Pecans + pineappletop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together294 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Celery + pineappletop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together230 recipes

Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
Pecans + celerytop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together219 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

What each ingredient does

Pecans: Add crunch and a toasty, nutty flavor that contrasts with the soft fruit.
Celery: Adds a crisp, fresh texture that holds up in the salad.
Pineapple: Provides sweetness, juiciness, and a bright acidity that balances the dressing.
Mayonnaise dressing: Adds fat and creaminess, binding the pieces together and keeping them moist.