IllustrationWhy it works: Salmon and egg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 3,174 recipes mention both. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Combine two cans salmon, three large onions chopped fine, a pinch of salt and pepper, and three hard-boiled eggs into the salmon.
Beat one egg, add two tablespoons cold water, a teaspoon mustard, and a teaspoon sugar.
Stir the mixture into a cup of boiling vinegar, then pour over the salmon.
Serve on a lettuce leaf.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
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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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Salmon + eggtop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together3,174 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Mustard + vinegartop 4% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + oniontop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together9,243 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mustard + peppertop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together15,427 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Vinegar + peppertop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together27,805 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Mustard and vinegar share little aroma chemistry, yet 14,067 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the salmon mixture and add richness and body to the salad.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that gives the dressing its sharp, tangy flavour.
- Mustard
- Adds sharp, pungent flavour that balances the acidity and richness.
- Onions
- Add sharp, savoury aroma and crunch to the salmon.
The step that matters
Stir the mixture into the boiling vinegar. Beaten egg thickens when heated, but it can scramble into lumps if it meets very hot liquid too quickly. Adding the egg mixture to the vinegar gradually while stirring keeps it smooth and lets it thicken evenly.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mustard, vinegar, salmon, egg, pepper):
- Cucumberbetter flavor fit
- Horseradishbetter flavor fit
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against mustard, vinegar, salmon, egg, pepper. 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).
“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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