Why it works: Lettuce and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,370 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Salad of Anchovies
Ingredients
Directions
Divide the anchovies into fillets, wash and bone them.
Cut the hard yolks and whites of the eggs separately.
Slice the lettuce as usual.
Arrange the anchovy fillets, egg whites, and yolks with the lettuce attractively.
Season with oil, vinegar, and pour the beaten egg yolk over the salad.
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.
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Lettuce + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,370 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + lettucetop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,301 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Egg + vinegartop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,922 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and vinegar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,922 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the lettuce
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, vinegar):
- Cucumberfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Lettucethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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