Lettuce Salad

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.

1. Lettuce + peppertop 9% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together4,037 recipes

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

2. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together27,814 recipes

   Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

3. Lettuce + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together2,370 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

4. Lettuce + eggtop 30% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together3,301 recipes

   Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

5. Egg + vinegartop 33% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together12,922 recipes

   Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and vinegar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,922 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Lettuce

Forms the crisp bulk of the salad and wilts quickly as it loses water.

Hard boiled egg

Adds the chopped white and minced yolk for texture and richness.

Vinegar

Adds sharp acidity that brightens the leaves and balances the egg.

The step that matters

Swap the lettuce

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, vinegar, pepper):

1. Capsicumfits better
2. Mustardfits better
3. Cucumberfits better
4. Lettucethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, vinegar, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.