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Salad

Swedish Herring Salad

A salad of herring cutlets, potatoes, pickles, apples, onions, and beet cubes dressed with vinegar, sugar, water, and pepper.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and dill work together. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 423 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Swedish Herring Salad

Timeat least 2 hours

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Place herring, potatoes, beets, pickles, apple and onion in a glass or plastic bowl.

  2. Mix vinegar, sugar, water and pepper, then pour the mixture over the herring mixture and toss lightly.

Chill

  1. Cover the bowl.

  2. Refrigerate, stirring at least 2 hours.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

422Calories
8 gProtein
1 gFat
96 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 12 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Apple1 medium (182g)95
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Beet1/2 cup (85g)35
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Dill5 sprigs fresh (1g) / 1 tsp dried4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Herringnot in our table0
Saucenot in our table0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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.

  1. Potato + dilltop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together423 recipes

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

  2. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  3. Wine + appletop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,207 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  4. Dill + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together659 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Dill + oniontop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,639 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

What each ingredient does

Herring cutlets
Provides the main protein and savory flavor of the salad.
Potatoes
Add starchy body and soak up the sweet-sour dressing.
Pickled beets
Add color and tangy sweetness that marinates into the dish.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens flavor and helps preserve the salad.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar with sweetness.

The step that matters

Refrigerate, stirring at least 2 hours. Chilling lets the vinegar and sugar dressing penetrate the potatoes, beets and herring, so flavors blend. Stirring spreads the dressing evenly so no piece stays bland.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wine, sauce, potato, dill, onion, vinegar, sugar):

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Limefits better
  3. Avocadofits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against wine, sauce, potato, dill, onion, vinegar, sugar. 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.

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