Name: Salmon Salad
Ingredients: one tablespoonful of vinegar; one teaspoonful of mayonnaise dressing over the fish; two crisp heads of lettuce arranged; one lemon; salt; cayenne

Why it works: Lettuce and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,559 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

Salmon Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Line the salad dish with two crisp heads of lettuce arranged with the darker leaves outside and the lighter ones inside.
Take a can of salmon, shred the fish into small flakes, and place in the middle of the dish on the lettuce.
Season with salt and a little cayenne.
Pour over one tablespoonful of vinegar, and the juice of one lemon.

Chill and serve

Set on ice for an hour to cool.
When ready to serve, pour one teaspoonful of mayonnaise dressing over the fish, and sprinkle a few capers on top.
Nasturtium blossoms make a pretty garnish.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

312Calories

28 gProtein

19 gFat

6 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Salmon	100g cooked	208
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Cayenne	1 tsp (1.8g)	6
Lettuce	1 cup shredded (36g)	5
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

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

By Olive M. Hulse. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Lettuce + lemontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,559 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Vinegar + lettucetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,370 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Fish + lemontop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,889 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Fish + lettucetop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together196 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Vinegar + lemontop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,334 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon (in the method): Forms the main body of the salad and provides its flavour and protein.
Mayonnaise dressing: Adds richness and moisture to the flaked fish.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the fish.
Lemon: Adds acidity and fresh aroma to the fish.