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Salad

Vegetable Salad, Mixed

A salad of cooked cauliflower, beetroot, cucumber, potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce, dressed with salad dressing, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Beetroot and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 678 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Vegetable Salad, Mixed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Divide the cauliflower into small sprays.

  2. Cut the beetroot and potatoes into fine strips.

  3. Slice the cucumber and tomatoes.

Assemble and serve

  1. Layer all ingredients in a salad bowl, piling somewhat high in the center.

  2. Season each layer with salt and pepper.

  3. Pour the salad dressing over the top.

  4. Garnish with a border of lettuce.

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.

  1. Beetroot + lettucetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together678 recipes

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

  2. Cucumber + lettucetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,409 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Cauliflower + cucumbertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together584 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Beetroot + cucumbertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together345 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Cauliflower + beetroottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together146 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Provide a firm, starchy bulk that holds its shape in the layered salad.
Cauliflower
Adds a crisp, mild-flavoured texture to the layers.
Beetroot
Adds colour and a mildly sweet, earthy flavour.
Tomatoes
Add juiciness and a bright, acidic note.
Salad dressing
Moistens the layers and carries seasoning through the salad.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cauliflower, beetroot, cucumber, tomato, lettuce, pepper):

  1. Endivefits better
  2. Broccolifits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cauliflower, beetroot, cucumber, tomato, lettuce, 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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