Name: Vinaigrette of Cold Meat
Ingredients: 1 pound cold boiled beef; cold potatoes; eggs; beetroot; cucumber; minced onions or shallots; cold beans (haricot or broad)

Why it works: Beetroot and cucumber match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 345 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Vinaigrette of Cold Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Slice the cold boiled beef neatly and thinly.
Arrange the beef on a dish with slices of cold potatoes, eggs, beetroot, cucumber, and minced onions or shallots.
For a more economical dish, use a bed of cold beans instead.
Serve with vinaigrette sauce in a separate bowl or with just salt and herbs for seasoning.

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.

Beetroot + cucumbertop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together345 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Beetroot + beanstop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together215 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,023 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Cucumber + beanstop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together602 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + beanstop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together655 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold boiled beef: Forms the main protein of the salad and carries most of its savoury flavour.
Cold potatoes: Add bulk and a soft, starchy body that balances the lean meat.
Eggs: Add richness and a creamy texture contrasting with the sliced beef.
Beetroot: Adds earthy sweetness and a vivid colour to the platter.
Cucumber: Adds cool, crisp moisture that lightens the heavier ingredients.
Cold beans (haricot or broad): Offer a starchy, economical base in place of the beef bed.

Swap the cucumber

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, potato, egg, beetroot, onion, beans):

Chivefits better
Leekfits better
Asparagusfits better
Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, egg, beetroot, onion, beans. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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.