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Salad

Salmon Salad

A salad of minced salmon and celery topped with a dressing of egg yolks, oil, salt, spices, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Salmon Salad

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 Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a bowl, combine the minced salmon and celery.

  2. Arrange the mixture on a platter lined with lettuce leaves.

Make the dressing

  1. In a separate bowl, mash the egg yolks with salad oil.

  2. Add salt, cayenne, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and vinegar to the egg mixture.

  3. Mix well and pour the dressing over the salmon salad just before serving.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Lettuce + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,356 recipes

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

  2. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Celery + lettucetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,033 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  4. Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

What each ingredient does

Salmon
Forms the bulk of the salad and provides its main flavor and protein-rich texture.
Hard-boiled egg yolks
Mashed with oil to form a smooth, creamy base for the dressing.
Salad oil
Adds fat and moisture, helping the yolks blend into a smooth dressing.
Celery
Adds crisp texture and a fresh, mild crunch against the soft salmon.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the richness of the yolks and oil.

The step that matters

Dressing just before serving. Vinegar and acid in the dressing start to soften celery and dull the fresh crunch over time, so pouring it on at the last moment keeps the salad crisp and bright.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, lettuce, egg, pepper, sugar, sauce, mustard):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Dillfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, lettuce, egg, pepper, sugar, sauce, mustard. 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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