Name: Salmon Sandwich
Ingredients: 1 can of salmon; 1 Spanish onion, finely chopped; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt; ¼ teaspoon red pepper; 1 teaspoon vinegar

Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Salmon Sandwich

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

Mix the finely chopped onion with the canned salmon.
Season with salt, red pepper, and vinegar.

Assemble

Spread the mixture on bread to make a sandwich.

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,226 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Salmon + oniontop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,529 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Salmon + vinegartop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,675 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: Provides the main protein and the flaky body of the filling.
Spanish onion: Adds sharp, aromatic flavour and a little crunch to the filling.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the salmon.