Name: Salmon Tartar with Coriander, Caviar and Lime Sauce
Ingredients: 300 gr salmon, bonleless and skinned; 1-2 shallots, finely chopped; ¼ pimiento, finely chopped; Small bunch of fresh coriander, chopped; Salt and white pepper from a grinder; Good caviar (salmon-caviar, lumpfish- or capelin roe).; 1 dl sour cream; Juice of 1 lime; 1 teaspoon Dijon-mustard; ½ teaspoon maple syrup; Salt and white pepper from a grinder

Why it works: Coriander and lime match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,536 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.

Coriander + limetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,536 recipes

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

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together859 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Shallot + limetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together258 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Lime + mustardtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together392 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Shallot + coriandertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together305 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon: Provides the main body of the tartare, and its chopped texture holds the dish together.
Sour cream: Adds creamy richness and moisture to the sauce, balancing the sharpness of the lime.
Lime juice: Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and cuts the richness of the salmon and cream.
Dijon mustard: Adds sharp, pungent flavour and helps emulsify the sauce.
Caviar: Adds salty, briny bursts of flavour and a contrasting texture on top.

The step that matters

Mince the salmon without mashing it. Mashing breaks down the fish's muscle fibres and releases moisture, giving a pasty texture instead of the clean, distinct pieces a tartare needs. Chopping keeps the flakes intact.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, shallot, coriander, caviar, cream, lime, mustard):

Capersfits better
Tarragonfits better
Dillfits better
White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, shallot, coriander, caviar, cream, lime, mustard. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Salmon	100g cooked	208
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Maple Syrup	1 tbsp (20ml)	52
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Lime	juice of 1 lime (44ml)	11
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Coriander	not in our table	0
Caviar	not in our table	0
Roe	not in our table	0

Salmon Tartar with Coriander, Caviar and Lime Sauce