Name: Vegetable Salad
Ingredients: 1 cup cold boiled peas; 1 cup string beans; 1 cup cauliflower florets; 1 cup asparagus tops; 1 cup beets or celery

Why it works: Cauliflower and asparagus match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 163 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Vegetable Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Combine cold boiled peas, string beans, cauliflower, asparagus tops, and beets or celery in a large bowl.
Cut vegetables into bite-sized pieces, but not too small.

Dress and serve

Add your choice of salad dressing to taste. Toss gently to combine.

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.

Cauliflower + asparagustop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together163 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Beans + asparagustop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together292 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beans + cauliflowertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together290 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Peas + asparagustop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together808 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Peas + cauliflowertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together313 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Peas: Add sweetness, color, and a tender bite to the salad.
String beans: Provide crisp texture and a fresh, green flavor.
Cauliflower: Adds firm, crunchy texture that holds up under dressing.
Asparagus tops: Contribute tender texture and a distinct, grassy flavor.
Beets or celery: Add crunch and earthy or fresh flavor to the mix.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (peas, beans, cauliflower, asparagus):

Capersfits better
Tarragonfits better
Turmericfits better
Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against peas, beans, cauliflower, asparagus. 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.