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Almond Mandarin Salad

"Oh, so good and refreshing. Enjoy!"

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Lettuce and mandarin orange share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 34 recipes mention both. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

The recipe

8 servings
Prep20 min
Cook10 min

Ingredients

Contains: tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat for about 8 to 10 minutes, turning occasionally, until crisp. Drain on paper towels, then crumble.

  2. Toast the slivered almonds in a dry skillet over medium heat for 2 to 4 minutes, stirring often, until golden. Set aside to cool.

  3. Whisk the white wine vinegar, honey, dry hot mustard, celery salt, paprika and olive oil in a small bowl until smooth.

  4. Place the torn red leaf lettuce, drained mandarin oranges and diced green onion in a large salad bowl.

  5. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss gently until everything is evenly coated.

  6. Top with the crumbled bacon and toasted almonds, then serve right away.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Lettuce + mandarin orangetop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together34 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  2. Mustard + lettucetop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,356 recipes

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

  3. Mustard + celerytop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together4,160 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Celery + lettucetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,033 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  5. Vinegar + mustardtop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Vinegar and mustard share little aroma chemistry, yet 14,067 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Flavor stand-ins for the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (white wine, vinegar, honey, mustard, olive, lettuce, mandarin orange):

  1. Tarragonbetter flavor fit
  2. Peppermintabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Celerythe original
  4. Thymeabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against white wine, vinegar, honey, mustard, olive, lettuce, mandarin orange. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).