Name: Arctic Char Gravlax with White Grapefruit
Yield: Makes 8 servings
Ingredients: 1 2-pound side of arctic char, skin on, pinbones removed; 3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons finely grated white or pink grapefruit zest; 3 tablespoons kosher salt plus more; 2 tablespoons muscovado sugar or light brown sugar; 1 tablespoon granulated sugar; 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon dried whole green peppercorns, crushed; 1 tablespoon juniper berries, well crushed; 1/2 cup crème fraîche; 3 teaspoons minced fresh dill, divided; Crackers or toasts (preferably rye)

Why it works: Dill and rye share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

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.

Dill + ryetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Grapefruit + dilltop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (clove, smoky).
Grapefruit + ryetop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Sugar + ryetop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together535 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Grapefruit + sugartop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together309 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

Swap the grapefruit

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, dill, rye):

Lemonfits better
Limefits better
Cherryfits better
Grapefruitthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, dill, rye. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Rye	1 slice (32g)	83
Grapefruit	1/2 fruit (123g)	52
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Dill	5 sprigs fresh (1g) / 1 tsp dried	4
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Arctic Char Gravlax with White Grapefruit