Why it works: Kale and capers share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 11 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
The recipe
4 servingsIngredients
Contains: fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Brush a foil-lined baking dish with the olive oil.
Pat the salmon fillet dry, season it with salt and black pepper, and place it skin side down in the dish.
Arrange the sliced onion over the salmon. Drain the pineapple chunks, reserving the juice, and scatter the chunks around the fish.
Pour the reserved pineapple juice over the fish, sprinkle the capers on top, and squeeze the lemon juice over everything.
Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until the thickest part of the salmon reaches 145°F (63°C) and flakes easily with a fork. Rest for 3 minutes.
Meanwhile, put the chopped kale in a covered pan with a splash of water and steam over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes, until wilted. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
Serve the salmon with the pan juices spooned over it and the kale alongside.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Kale + caperstop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together11 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Lemon + peppertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together27,039 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Capers + olivetop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,555 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Kale + lemontop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together226 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Olive + lemontop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together10,849 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the pineapple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, kale, onion, capers, olive, lemon, pepper):
- Avocadobetter flavor fit
- Limebetter flavor fit
- Orangebetter flavor fit
- Pineapplethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, kale, onion, capers, olive, lemon, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
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