Name: Peach Salad
Ingredients: 4 large peaches; 1 small head of lettuce; 1 cup finely shredded pineapple; ¼ cup chopped almonds; 1 cup creamed mayonnaise; ¼ cup Maraschino cherries, finely shredded

Why it works: Peach and pineapple match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 168 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Peach Salad

Ingredients

4 large peaches
1 small head of lettuce
1 cup finely shredded pineapple
¼ cup chopped almonds
1 cup creamed mayonnaise
¼ cup Maraschino cherries, finely shredded

Directions

Peel and cut the peaches in halves, removing the pits.
Chill the peach halves.
Place the chilled peaches on a small head of lettuce.
Fill the centers of the peaches with finely shredded pineapple and chopped almonds.
Mask the filled peaches with creamed mayonnaise.
Sprinkle finely shredded Maraschino cherries over the top.

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.

Peach + pineappletop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together168 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Lettuce + almondtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together210 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together466 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Lettuce + pineappletop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together271 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34 recipes

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