Name: Corn Salad
Ingredients: 8 large ears of corn; 3 large onions; 1 small head of cabbage; 1 bunch of celery; 3 red peppers (seeds removed); ½ cup coarse sea salt; 1 quart vinegar; 1½ cups brown sugar; 2 heaping teaspoons mustard

Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Corn Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and cook

Chop the onions, cabbage, celery, and red peppers.
Boil the chopped vegetables for 20 minutes.

Finish and store

Add the corn and mustard, stirring well.
Store for future use.

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.

Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,169 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,645 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,081 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,259 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Corn: Adds sweet flavor and tender-crisp texture to the salad.
Cabbage: Provides bulk and a crisp texture that holds up after cooking.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Vinegar: Adds acidity for tang and helps preserve the salad for storage.
Mustard: Adds sharp, pungent flavor that deepens the overall taste.
Onions: Contribute savory aroma and depth as they soften during boiling.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (corn, cabbage, celery, pepper, vinegar, sugar, mustard):

Capsicumfits better
Horseradishfits better
Lettucefits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against corn, cabbage, celery, pepper, vinegar, sugar, mustard. 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.