Name: Apple Salad
Ingredients: 5 large apples, diced; ½ pound English walnuts, chopped; ½ pound almonds, chopped; 1 stalk celery, chopped; mayonnaise dressing

Why it works: Walnut and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 993 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Apple Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and combine

Dice the apples and chop the walnuts, almonds, and celery.
Combine all ingredients in a bowl.

Serve

Serve with mayonnaise dressing.

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.

Walnut + almondtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together993 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Walnut + celerytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together852 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Apple + celerytop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,155 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
Almond + celerytop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together485 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Apple + walnuttop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,051 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

Apples: Provide the crisp, juicy bulk and fresh sweetness of the salad.
English walnuts: Add crunch and a rich, slightly bitter nuttiness.
Almonds: Add crunch and a mild, toasty nut flavor.
Celery: Adds a crisp texture and a light, fresh vegetal note.
Mayonnaise dressing: Adds moisture and richness, binding the salad with fat and creaminess.