Name: Crab Salad with Pimento Mayonnaise
Ingredients: ¼ cup non-fat plain yogurt; 3 tablespoons low-fat mayonnaise; 3 tablespoons roasted pimentos, rinsed and patted dry; 1 garlic clove; 2 tablespoons chives, chopped fine; ⅛ teaspoon salt (to taste); ⅛ teaspoon fresh ground pepper (to taste); ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional); 2⅔ cups cooked crabmeat or lobster meat; 6 cups mesclun; lemon wedges (to garnish)

Why it works: Garlic and chive match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,149 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. 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.

Garlic + chivetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,149 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,090 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Clove + chivetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together450 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Crabmeat or lobster meat: Provides the main body and sweet, delicate flavor of the salad.
Low-fat mayonnaise: Adds creaminess and fat that carries the flavor of the dressing.
Non-fat plain yogurt: Adds tang and creaminess, lightening the dressing.
Roasted pimentos: Contributes sweet, smoky flavor and color to the mayonnaise.
Garlic clove: Adds pungent aroma that seasons the dressing.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (yogurt, garlic, chive, pepper, lobster, lemon):

Parsleyfits better
Tarragonfits better
Corianderfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against yogurt, garlic, chive, pepper, lobster, lemon. 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
Yogurt	170g plain Greek	100
Shrimp	100g cooked	99
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Chive	1 tbsp (3g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Pimento	not in our table	0
Meat	not in our table	0

Crab Salad with Pimento Mayonnaise