Why it works: Apple and mandarin orange share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 29 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. 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.
Drain the mandarin orange segments and the tuna well, then flake the tuna into small pieces with a fork.
Peel, core and dice the Granny Smith apple.
Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.
Add the flaked tuna and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring gently, until heated through. The tuna is already cooked, so it only needs warming.
Place the mixed baby greens in a large bowl.
Add the warm tuna with its pan oil, the diced apple and the mandarin segments to the greens, then toss gently to combine.
Divide the salad among four plates and serve right away.
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.
-
Apple + mandarin orangetop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together29 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
-
Olive + mandarin orangetop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together77 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Olive + appletop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,335 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, mandarin orange):
- Orangebetter flavor fit
- Lemonbetter flavor fit
- Limebetter flavor fit
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against olive, mandarin orange. 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).
The Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.