Name: Mascarpone and Goat Cheese Torta with Smoked Salmon
Ingredients: 1⁄4 cup shelled salted pistachios; 6 oz. mascarpone or natural cream cheese,; at room temperature; 6 oz. fresh plain goat cheese,; at room temperature; Freshly ground white pepper, to taste; Olive oil, as needed; 1⁄2 cup finely chopped smoked salmon, packed; 1⁄2 baguette, cut into slices 1⁄4 inch thick

Why it works: Goat cheese and salmon share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and 9 recipes mention both. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: milk, tree nuts, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

1⁄4 cup shelled salted pistachios
6 oz. mascarpone or natural cream cheese,
at room temperature
6 oz. fresh plain goat cheese,
at room temperature
Freshly ground white pepper, to taste
Olive oil, as needed
1⁄2 cup finely chopped smoked salmon, packed
1⁄2 baguette, cut into slices 1⁄4 inch thick

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

By williamssonoma. 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.

Goat cheese + salmontop 14% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together9 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Cream cheese + goat cheesetop 1% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together44 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Goat cheese + olivetop 3% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together557 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).
Cream cheese + salmontop 5% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together148 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Pistachio + olivetop 5% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together262 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pistachio, cream cheese, goat cheese, olive, salmon):

Garlicbetter flavor fit
Dillbetter flavor fit
Capersbetter flavor fit
White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pistachio, cream cheese, goat cheese, olive, salmon. 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).

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