Name: Shrimp Salad
Ingredients: 1 can of shrimp, washed and picked to pieces; 1 bunch of celery, chopped fine; Lettuce leaves or parsley, for lining the dish; Cooked salad dressing, to taste

Why it works: Celery and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,033 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

Shrimp Salad

Ingredients

1 can of shrimp, washed and picked to pieces
1 bunch of celery, chopped fine
Lettuce leaves or parsley, for lining the dish
Cooked salad dressing, to taste

Directions

Prepare

Line a dish with lettuce leaves or parsley.

Make the salad

Combine the shrimp and chopped celery in a bowl.
Pour the cooked salad dressing over the shrimp and celery mixture.

Serve

Serve immediately.

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.

Celery + lettucetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,033 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Shrimp + lettucetop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together430 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Shrimp + celerytop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together812 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Shrimp: Provides the main protein and bulk of the salad.
Celery: Adds crisp texture and a fresh, mildly savory crunch.
Cooked salad dressing: Adds moisture and tang that coats the shrimp and celery.