Cholly's Tuna Salad

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. Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs
   Smell alikestrong
   Cooked together10,173 recipes

   Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

2. Lemon + celerytop 3% of all pairs
   Smell alikestrong
   Cooked together3,467 recipes

   Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

3. Celery + lettucetop 4% of all pairs
   Smell alikestrong
   Cooked together2,033 recipes

   Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

4. Carrot + lettucetop 6% of all pairs
   Smell alikestrong
   Cooked together976 recipes

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

5. Rice + carrottop 7% of all pairs
   Smell alikestrong
   Cooked together2,477 recipes

   Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Mayonnaise

Adds fat and creaminess that bind the salad and keep it moist.

Lemon juice

Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the sweetness.

Sugar

Adds sweetness that rounds out the lemon and the pineapple.

Cooked rice

Provides the bulk and starchy body of the salad.

Tuna

Supplies the savory, protein-rich base of the salad.

Raisins

Add chewy, concentrated sweetness that contrasts with the tuna.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, sugar, rice, celery, carrot, pineapple, lettuce):

1. Limefits better
2. Orangefits better
3. Cherryfits better
4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, sugar, rice, celery, carrot, pineapple, lettuce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.