Name: Lettuce Salad
Ingredients: 1 head of lettuce; 3 cucumbers; 6 boiled eggs; 6 cold potatoes; 1 onion; mayonnaise dressing; 2 egg yolks

Why it works: Lettuce and cucumber match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,409 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Lettuce Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Wash and crisp the lettuce leaves.
Slice the cucumbers and arrange them around the lettuce.
Cut the boiled eggs in half and place them around the salad.
Dice the cold potatoes and add them to the dish.
Chop the onion finely and sprinkle it over the salad.

Dress and serve

Pour mayonnaise dressing over the entire salad.
Grate the reserved egg yolks over the top and dice the egg whites to place around.
Chill the salad on ice before serving.

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.

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.

Lettuce + cucumbertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,409 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Lettuce + potatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together322 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Lettuce + oniontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,562 recipes

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

What each ingredient does

Lettuce: Forms the crisp base that the other ingredients are arranged on.
Mayonnaise dressing: Adds moisture and richness, coating the vegetables and potatoes.
Boiled eggs: Add soft, mild protein body and visual contrast to the salad.
Cold potatoes: Add starchy bulk and a soft texture that holds the dressing.
Egg yolks: Grated over the top, they add richness and a creamy finish.