Why it works: Lettuce and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,356 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Salmon and Lobster Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Drain the oil from the canned salmon and mince the meat finely.
Chop the lettuce or celery and mix with the salmon.
Boil the eggs hard, then cool in cold water, shell, and separate the whites from the yolks.
Mash the yolks smooth with the olive oil or milk.
Dissolve the vinegar, sugar, salt, and mustard in a bowl, then mix with the yolk paste.
Toss the mixture lightly with the salmon and greens using a silver fork.
Garnish the dish with celery leaves, parsley, and egg whites cut into rings.
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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Lettuce + mustardtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,356 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Lettuce + olivetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,580 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Olive + mustardtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,950 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 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
Swap the lettuce
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, egg, olive, vinegar, sugar, mustard, pepper):
- Cucumberfits better
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Horseradishfits about as well
- Lettucethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, egg, olive, vinegar, sugar, mustard, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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