Name: Honey-Glazed Salmon with Roasted Corn Salsa
Ingredients: 3 ears of corn, shucked; 2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped; 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped; 2 Tbs. olive oil; 1 Tbs. red wine vinegar; 1/2 tsp. salt; 1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper; 1/4 tsp. Tabasco or other hot-pepper sauce, or; to taste; 2 Tbs. finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley; 1/2 cup honey; 2 Tbs. balsamic vinegar; 1 Tbs. plus 2 tsp. vegetable oil; 6 center-cut salmon fillets with skin intact, each; 6 to 8 oz.; Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Why it works: Tomato and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. 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.

Tomato + olivetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Olive + parsleytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,649 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Corn + tomatotop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,099 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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 (corn, tomato, olive, red wine, vinegar, pepper, parsley):

Capsicumfits better
Carrotfits better
Potatofits better
Onionthe original

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

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Salmon	100g cooked	208
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Corn	1/2 cup kernels (82g)	77
Honey	1 tbsp (21g)	64
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Sauce	not in our table	0

Honey-Glazed Salmon with Roasted Corn Salsa