Name: Haricot and Lentil Salad
Ingredients: 1 pint cooked haricots; 1 teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon pepper; 1 onion, chopped; 2 tablespoons vinegar; 4 tablespoons oil; 2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Haricot and Lentil Salad

Ingredients

Directions

In a bowl, combine the cooked haricots, salt, pepper, and chopped onion.
Add vinegar and oil, then stir well to combine.
Garnish with chopped parsley and serve.

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.

Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,843 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,226 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Haricots: Form the bulk of the salad and provide its main body and texture.
Onion: Adds sharp, aromatic flavor that cuts through the richness of the oil.
Oil: Adds fat and moisture, coating the beans and carrying flavor.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the oil.