Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Celery Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Select dwarf celery, which is white and tender with little waste.
Clean the celery thoroughly and cut it into thin slices.
Place the sliced celery in a damp towel and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Dress and serve
Mix the chilled celery with ½ to ¾ cup of mayonnaise or boiled dressing for every 2 cups of celery.
Garnish with finely chopped parsley and decorate the edge of the dish with celery leaves.
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.
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Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,810 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Dwarf celery
- Forms the crisp, tender body of the salad and carries the dressing.
- Mayonnaise or boiled dressing
- Adds moisture, fat and richness that coat the celery slices.
The step that matters
Chilling the sliced celery in a damp towel. Cold, humid conditions keep the celery firm and crisp. Chilling it before dressing helps prevent it from wilting or releasing water into the dressing.
“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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