Why it works: Miso and lettuce work together. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 11 recipes mention both. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 4Ingredients
Contains: soy, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Whisk the lime juice, white miso and water in a small bowl until smooth. Slowly whisk in the extra-virgin olive oil and half the ground pepper to make the dressing.
Pat the salmon fillets dry. Rub them on both sides with the olive oil and the remaining ground pepper.
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the salmon skin-side down and cook about 4 minutes until the underside releases easily.
Flip the salmon and cook 3 to 4 minutes more until the thickest part reaches 145°F (63°C) or flakes easily when opened with a fork.
Transfer the salmon to a plate and let it rest 3 minutes. Flake it into large pieces, discarding the skin.
Divide the torn romaine among four plates. Arrange the diced avocado, sliced cucumber and thinly sliced red bell pepper over the top.
Top each salad with flaked salmon and drizzle with the miso lime dressing. Serve right away.
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.
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Miso + lettucetop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together11 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Lime + avocadotop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,117 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Lettuce + cucumbertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,409 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Pepper + limetop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,491 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Lettuce + avocadotop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together464 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the cucumber
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, olive, pepper, lime, miso, lettuce, avocado):
- Tomatoabout as good a flavor fit
- Capsicumabout as good a flavor fit
- Spinachabout as good a flavor fit
- Cucumberthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, olive, pepper, lime, miso, lettuce, avocado. 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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