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Salad

Summer Salad

A salad of thinly sliced cold beef with lettuce, dressed in oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Summer Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the cold beef into thin slices and place in a salad bowl.

  2. Add half the quantity of small lettuce leaves.

Dress and serve

  1. Season with salad oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and chopped parsley.

  2. Mix well with a wooden fork and spoon.

  3. Serve immediately.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Lettuce + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,483 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Lettuce + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold beef
Provides the main protein and the substantial body of the salad.
Small lettuce leaves
Adds crisp texture and fresh bulk that the dressing clings to.
Salad oil
Carries flavour across the leaves and adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the beef and balances the richness of the oil.

The step that matters

Mix well with a wooden fork and spoon. Lettuce bruises and wilts easily, and vinegar speeds that softening. Toss gently but thoroughly so every piece is lightly coated, then serve right away before the leaves go limp.

Swap the lettuce

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, vinegar, pepper, parsley):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Lettucethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, vinegar, pepper, parsley. 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.

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