Name: Roquefort Cheese Salad
Ingredients: 1 head of lettuce; ¼ pound Roquefort cheese; pickled German onions; French dressing

Why it works: Lettuce and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,562 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Roquefort Cheese Salad

Ingredients

1 head of lettuce
¼ pound Roquefort cheese
pickled German onions
French dressing

Directions

Line a bowl with lettuce leaves.
Grate the Roquefort cheese and sprinkle it over the lettuce.
Add the pickled German onions.
Pour the French dressing over all.

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.

Lettuce + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,562 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together28 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Roquefort cheese + oniontop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Lettuce: Forms the crisp, leafy base that holds the other ingredients.
Roquefort cheese: Adds a salty, tangy flavor and rich texture to the salad.
Pickled german onions: Contribute sharp acidity and a crunchy bite that contrasts the cheese.
French dressing: Adds moisture and sweet-acid flavor that coats the leaves.