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Salmon with Harissa

"Fiery harissa and smoky paprika in a mayo base stand up to the distinctive flavor of mighty wild salmon."

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Why it works: Salmon and harissa work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and 17 recipes mention both. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

The recipe

4 servings
Prep20 min
Cook15 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, 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.

  1. Preheat the oven to 425°F (218°C). Brush a baking dish with the vegetable oil.

  2. Season the salmon fillet on both sides with salt and pepper and place it skin side down in the dish.

  3. Lay the lemon slices and separated onion rings over the salmon.

  4. In a bowl, whisk the mayonnaise, lemon juice, harissa, smoked paprika, orange juice and white wine. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

  5. Bake the salmon for 12 to 15 minutes, until it flakes easily and reaches 145°F (63°C) in the thickest part. Rest for 3 minutes.

  6. Spoon the harissa mayonnaise over the salmon or serve it on the side.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

  1. Salmon + harissatop 12% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together17 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  2. Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together10,632 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Pepper + lemontop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together27,039 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Lemon + white winetop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together3,764 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  5. Pepper + orangetop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,402 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, pepper, lemon, harissa, orange, white wine):

  1. Tomatobetter flavor fit
  2. Carrotbetter flavor fit
  3. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, pepper, lemon, harissa, orange, white wine. 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).