Why it works: Capers and olive match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,688 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Nut Salad
Ingredients
Directions
In a large bowl, combine the chopped nuts and celery.
Add enough salad dressing to coat the mixture well.
If desired, stir in capers and quartered olives.
Serve chilled.
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.
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Capers + olivetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,688 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Walnut + celerytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together852 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Walnut + olivetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,087 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Celery + caperstop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together405 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Walnut + caperstop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together156 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Black walnuts
- Provide the main crunchy body and rich, nutty flavour of the salad.
- English walnuts
- Add crunch and mild, buttery nut flavour to the salad.
- Hickory nuts
- Contribute crunch and a strong, distinctive nutty aroma.
- Celery
- Adds crisp, fresh texture that contrasts with the chewy nuts.
Swap the capers
The recipe marks capers as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (walnut, nuts, celery, olive):
- Capersthe original
- Parsleyfits about as well
- Cardamomfits about as well
- Nutmegfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against walnut, nuts, celery, olive. 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.
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