Why it works: Tarragon and chervil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 824 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Norwegian Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Mix pickled herring, flaked rice, diced apples, and diced potatoes in a bowl.
Add chopped shallots and gherkins, then sprinkle with tarragon and chervil.
Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper to taste.
Cover with plain salad dressing and serve on lettuce leaves.
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.
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.
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Tarragon + cherviltop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together824 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Shallot + cherviltop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together266 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Chervil + lettucetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together396 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Shallot + tarragontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together602 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Tarragon + lettucetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together425 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, potato, shallot, tarragon, chervil, pepper, lettuce):
- Limefits better
- Avocadofits better
- Lemonfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, potato, shallot, tarragon, chervil, pepper, lettuce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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