Name: Smoked Salmon Mousse and Cucumber Tea Sandwiches
Ingredients: 3 English (hothouse) cucumbers, peeled; and thinly sliced crosswise; 1 lb. smoked salmon, diced; 1/4 cup mayonnaise; 1/4 cup sour cream; 1 Tbs. chopped fresh dill, plus sprigs for garnish; 1 tsp. freshly ground pepper; 3/4 cup chilled heavy cream; 20 thin slices pumpernickel bread; 8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Why it works: Cucumber and dill match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 530 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. 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.

Cucumber + dilltop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together530 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Dill + peppertop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,630 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cucumber + salmontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together513 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

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

Swap the dill

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cucumber, salmon, cream, pepper, bread, butter):

Capersfits better
Parsleyfits about as well
Nutmegfits about as well
Dillthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cucumber, salmon, cream, pepper, bread, butter. 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
Smoked Salmon	100g cooked	208
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Cucumber	1/2 cup sliced (52g)	16
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Dill	5 sprigs fresh (1g) / 1 tsp dried	4

Smoked Salmon Mousse and Cucumber Tea Sandwiches