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Adirondack Salad

A salad of peas, cheese, onion, pickles, and mayonnaise.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Peas and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,460 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Adirondack Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Combine

  1. Drain the peas and place them in a bowl.

  2. Add the grated cheese, chopped onion, and diced sweet sour pickles.

Dress and toss

  1. Mix with mayonnaise dressing.

  2. Toss the salad together gently; do not stir.

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.

  1. Peas + oniontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,460 recipes

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

  2. Cheese + oniontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,849 recipes

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

  3. Peas + cheesetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together313 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

Peas
Form the bulk of the salad and provide its mild, tender body.
Mayonnaise dressing
Adds moisture and creaminess that binds the other ingredients together.
Grated cheese
Adds savory, salty flavor that stands out against the sweet peas.
Chopped onion
Contributes sharp aroma and a pungent bite that cuts through the richness.
Sweet sour pickles
Add acidity and a tangy contrast to the creamy dressing.

The step that matters

Toss gently, do not stir. Vigorous stirring crushes the soft peas and breaks them down, turning the salad mushy. Gentle folding keeps the peas whole and the texture pleasantly firm while the dressing coats everything evenly.

Swap the peas

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, onion):

  1. Sesamefits better
  2. Beansfits better
  3. Peanutfits better
  4. Peasthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, onion. 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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