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Nut Salad

A salad of walnuts, apples, celery, grapes, dressed with a yolk-based vinaigrette.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Nut Salad

Why it works: Apple and grape match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,659 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Nut Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the salad

  1. In a large bowl, combine the walnuts, chopped apples, celery, and halved grapes.

Make the dressing

  1. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, vinegar, mustard, butter, salt, and cayenne until smooth.

Dress and serve

  1. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix well to combine.

  2. Serve chilled.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Apple + grapetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,659 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Walnut + celerytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together852 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  4. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Walnut + grapetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,427 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the dressing into a smooth, creamy emulsion as they set gently with heat.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the dressing and balances the sweetness.
Sugar
Sweetens the dressing and softens the sharpness of the vinegar.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, giving the dressing a smoother mouthfeel.
Walnuts
Provide crunch and a toasty, nutty flavour that contrasts with the soft fruit.
Apples
Add crisp texture and tart juiciness to the salad.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (walnut, celery, grape, egg, sugar, vinegar, mustard):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Cherryfits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against walnut, celery, grape, egg, sugar, vinegar, mustard. 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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