Name: French Salad
Ingredients: 1 can Petit Pois peas; 2 tablespoons chopped onion; 4 tablespoons cream cheese; 4 tablespoons sweet pickle; salad dressing

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 ↓

French Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Cut the cream cheese and sweet pickles into small pieces.
Mix the cheese and pickles with the salad dressing.
Serve immediately.

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.

Peas + oniontop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,460 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Peas + cream cheesetop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together44 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).
Onion + cream cheesetop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,097 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Peas: Provide the bulk and mild, sweet body of the salad.
Cream cheese: Adds richness and a creamy texture that coats the other ingredients.
Sweet pickle: Adds sweetness and a tangy acidity that balances the richness.
Onion: Adds a sharp, aromatic bite.
Salad dressing: Supplies moisture and flavour that binds the mixture together.