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Salad

Salad a LA Romoulade

A salad of diced boiled potatoes, sardines, cabbage, green pepper, egg yolk dressing, and garnished with parsley and egg white rings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 34,118 recipes mention both. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: egg, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Prepare the salad

  1. Dice the cold boiled potatoes.

  2. Mix the potatoes with the sardines.

  3. Add the shredded cabbage and chopped green pepper.

Dress and serve

  1. In a bowl, combine the egg yolks, olive oil, vinegar, and grated onion; mix well.

  2. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss gently.

  3. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.

  4. Serve on a bed of lettuce and garnish with rings of egg whites.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together34,118 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Potato + oniontop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together9,019 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Potato + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Cabbage + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together4,080 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Potato + olivetop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together5,688 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Form the bulk of the salad and hold the other ingredients together.
Sardines
Provide the main protein and a rich, savory flavor.
Egg yolks
Mashed into the dressing to add richness and a smooth, creamy body.
Olive oil
Adds fat to the dressing, carrying flavor and giving it a silky texture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the oily fish.

The step that matters

Dressing the salad with gentle tossing. Potatoes and fish break apart easily, so folding the dressing in gently keeps the pieces intact while still coating them evenly.

Flavor stand-ins for the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, pepper, egg, olive, vinegar, onion, parsley):

  1. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  2. Tomatobetter flavor fit
  3. Carrotbetter flavor fit
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, pepper, egg, olive, vinegar, onion, parsley. 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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