Name: Olive Salad
Ingredients: 1 cup Spanish olives (stuffed olives may be used); 1½ cups gherkins, chopped fine; 1 cup stale bread crumbs; ½ cup mayonnaise; juice of ½ lemon; 2 red peppers, chopped

Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Olive Salad

Ingredients

1 cup Spanish olives (stuffed olives may be used)
1½ cups gherkins, chopped fine
1 cup stale bread crumbs
½ cup mayonnaise
juice of ½ lemon
2 red peppers, chopped

Directions

In a bowl, combine the Spanish olives, chopped gherkins, stale bread crumbs, mayonnaise, and lemon juice. Mix well until all ingredients are combined.
Sprinkle the chopped red peppers over the top 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.

Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Olive + lemontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,922 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Olive + breadtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,091 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,263 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,964 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Spanish olives: Provide the main salty, briny flavour and bulk of the salad.
Gherkins: Add tangy acidity and a crisp texture that contrasts with the soft bread.
Stale bread crumbs: Absorb moisture and help bind the salad into a spreadable texture.
Mayonnaise: Adds fat and creaminess, binding the ingredients together.
Red peppers: Contribute sweetness, colour and a fresh crunch as a topping.