Name: Cucumber, Mint & Feta Salad
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 1 lb thin skinned, mild (non bitter) cucumbers, such as Persian, Armenian, or Japanese cucumbers, thinly sliced. You might also try it with English cucumbers.; 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced and cut into 1-inch long segments; 2 or 3 red radishes, thinly sliced; 10 mint leaves, thinly sliced; White vinegar; Olive oil; 1/4 pound feta cheese; Salt and freshly ground pepper

Why it works: Cucumber and radish match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 212 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Cucumber, Mint & Feta Salad

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 lb thin skinned, mild (non bitter) cucumbers, such as Persian, Armenian, or Japanese cucumbers, thinly sliced. You might also try it with English cucumbers.
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced and cut into 1-inch long segments
2 or 3 red radishes, thinly sliced
10 mint leaves, thinly sliced
White vinegar
Olive oil
1/4 pound feta cheese
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

301Calories

9 gProtein

23 gFat

16 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 8 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Feta Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Peppermint	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By bbcgoodfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

Cucumber + radishtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together212 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Cucumber + minttop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together884 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Cucumber + olivetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,611 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).
Olive + feta cheesetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,482 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).
Cucumber + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,050 recipes

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

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

Swap the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, onion, radish, vinegar, olive, feta cheese, pepper):

Garlicfits better
Dillfits better
Capersfits better
Mintthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, onion, radish, vinegar, olive, feta cheese, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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