Name: Tuna and Farro Salad
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups farro, soaked in water to cover for 20; minutes and drained; 1/3 cup olive oil; 2 Tbs. red wine vinegar; 2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice; 4 tsp. brined-cured green peppercorns, chopped; 1/2 tsp. kosher salt; 1 can (10 1/2 oz.) Italian tuna packed in olive; oil, drained and flaked; 1/2 white onion, finely diced; 1 celery stalk, thinly sliced; 1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley; 1 garlic clove, finely chopped; Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste; 1 small head radicchio, julienned; Lemon wedges for garnish; Extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling

Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. 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.

Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,037 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,810 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Lemon + celerytop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,467 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, red wine, vinegar, lemon, celery, parsley, garlic):

Tomatofits better
Broccolifits better
Shallotfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, red wine, vinegar, lemon, celery, parsley, garlic. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Salmon	100g cooked	208
Farro	1/2 cup cooked (100g)	170
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Olive	1 large (4g)	4
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0
Radicchio	not in our table	0

Tuna and Farro Salad