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 ↓
Apple and Celery
Ingredients
Directions
Cut the tender white celery into small dice, including the heart and leaves.
Season the celery with salt and pepper.
Slice the tart apples into very small thin slices.
Chop the desired nuts finely and mix them with the celery and apples.
Add mayonnaise dressing until the mixture reaches a good consistency.
Serve on lettuce leaves and garnish with celery leaves.
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 + lettucetop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,033 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Pepper + lettucetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,037 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Nuts + lettucetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together174 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Celery + appletop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,155 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the nuts
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, pepper, apple, lettuce):
- Chestnutfits better
- Beansfits better
- Chickpeafits better
- Nutsthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against celery, pepper, apple, lettuce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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