Name: Nut Salad
Ingredients: 1½ cups pecans or English walnuts, chopped; 2 cups celery, finely chopped; 1 can French peas; mayonnaise or boiled dressing; lettuce

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 ↓

Nut Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Chop the pecans or walnuts into small pieces.
Finely chop the celery.

Mix and serve

In a bowl, combine the chopped nuts, celery, and French peas.
Dress the mixture with mayonnaise or boiled dressing.
Serve the salad on a bed 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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).
Peas + lettucetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,293 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Pecans + lettucetop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together145 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Pecans + peastop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together24 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Celery + peastop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,832 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Pecans or english walnuts: Add crunch and a rich, nutty flavour that contrasts with the soft salad.
Celery: Adds crisp texture and a fresh, mildly savoury bite.
French peas: Add small pops of sweetness and tender texture to the salad.
Mayonnaise or boiled dressing: Adds fat and moisture that bind the ingredients and carry the flavour.