Why it works: Celery and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,627 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Celery Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the dressing as you would for a tomato salad.
Cut the celery into bits half an inch long and season with salt.
Serve immediately to maintain the crispness of the celery.
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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Celery + vinegartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,627 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Celery
- Provides the crisp, fresh texture that is the main point of this salad.
The step that matters
Serve immediately. Celery loses its crispness once salted and dressed, because salt draws water out of its cells and softens them over time. Serving right away keeps the pieces crunchy.
“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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