Name: Veal Salad
Ingredients: 1 pint cold roast veal, shaved; 2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped; 3 or 4 stalks celery, cut into small pieces; 2 small heads lettuce, finely shredded; pepper to taste; coarse sea salt to taste; mayonnaise or salad dressing for serving

Why it works: Celery and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,033 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

Veal Salad

Ingredients

1 pint cold roast veal, shaved
2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
3 or 4 stalks celery, cut into small pieces
2 small heads lettuce, finely shredded
pepper to taste
coarse sea salt to taste
mayonnaise or salad dressing for serving

Directions

Prepare

Remove bones, fat, and gristle from the veal.
Cut the veal crosswise of the grain into the thinnest shavings possible, about 1 inch long and ¼ inch wide.

Assemble and serve

In a bowl, combine the shaved veal, chopped hard-boiled eggs, celery pieces, and shredded lettuce.
Season with pepper and coarse sea salt to taste.
Serve with mayonnaise or your choice of salad 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.

Celery + lettucetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,033 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Lettuce + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,037 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Veal + celerytop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,336 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,049 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold roast veal: Provides the main protein, giving the salad its meaty body and substance.
Hard-boiled eggs: Add richness and a soft, creamy texture that binds the salad together.
Celery: Adds crisp texture and a fresh, slightly vegetal crunch against the soft meat and eggs.
Lettuce: Adds leafy bulk, crispness, and a cool, fresh base for the salad.