Why it works: Lettuce and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,037 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Suffolk Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Assemble
Fill a salad bowl half to three parts full with the shredded lettuces.
Layer the minced ham and hard-boiled eggs (or yolks) alternately, arranging them neatly in the bowl.
Dress and serve
Dress the mixture with English salad sauce just before serving.
If desired, add thin slices of cold chicken or veal around the bowl.
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 + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,037 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Ham + chickentop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,497 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Lettuce + chickentop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,421 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,958 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
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Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,526 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Very tender lettuces
- Form the bulk of the salad, providing a crisp, light base.
- Lean ham
- Adds savoury flavour and a firm, meaty texture between the leaves.
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Add richness and a soft, creamy texture to the salad.
- English salad sauce
- Dresses the leaves and adds moisture and tangy flavour.
The step that matters
Dress just before serving. Lettuce wilts and turns limp once it contacts dressing, so adding the sauce at the last moment keeps the leaves crisp.
Swap the lettuce
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, egg, sauce, chicken, pepper):
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Lettucethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against ham, egg, sauce, chicken, pepper. 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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