Why it works: Lettuce and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,019 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Fowes a Ea Mayonnaise
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and arrange
Carve the cold roast fowls neatly.
Place the inferior joints in the middle of a dish and arrange the other pieces around them, piling them high in the center.
Border the dish with halved hearts of young lettuces and halved hard-boiled eggs.
Dress and serve
Just before serving, pour over the fowls a well-made mayonnaise sauce or a salad mixture with thick cream.
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 + saucetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,019 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Lettuce + eggtop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,301 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Egg + saucetop 39% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,895 recipes
Egg and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,895 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold roast fowls
- Provide the main meat, carved and piled to form the body of the salad.
- Mayonnaise sauce
- Adds richness and moisture, coating the fowl pieces with a creamy dressing.
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Add soft, creamy texture and mild richness as a border garnish.
- Hearts of young lettuces
- Add crisp, fresh texture and a light, cool contrast to the rich meat.
The step that matters
Dressing just before serving. Mayonnaise or cream dressing left on the fowl too long can thin and weep, and the lettuce wilts once moisture reaches it. Adding the sauce at the last moment keeps the texture and presentation intact.
Swap the lettuce
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sauce):
- Horseradishfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Lettucethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sauce. 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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