Name: Winter Salad
Ingredients: 1 cooked beetroot; 3 cooked potatoes; ½ lb Brussels sprouts; 1 head celery; salad dressing

Why it works: Beetroot and potato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 330 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Winter Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Clean and cut the outer stalks from the celery, then chop it into small pieces.
Use a vegetable cutter to shape the beetroot and potatoes.
Boil the Brussels sprouts until tender.

Assemble

Mix all the ingredients together and pour salad dressing 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.

Beetroot + potatotop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together330 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Beetroot + celerytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together652 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,047 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Potato + brussels sproutstop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together12 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Beetroot + brussels sproutstop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Beetroot: Adds colour and an earthy sweetness, and holds its shape when cut.
Potatoes: Provide body and bulk, soaking up dressing for a hearty texture.
Brussels sprouts: Add a tender, slightly bitter cabbage flavour and firm texture once boiled.
Celery: Contributes crisp crunch and fresh, mildly savoury flavour.