Name: Fish and Macaroni Salad
Ingredients: equal parts boiled white fish; equal parts macaroni; salad dressing; sliced hard-boiled egg; parsley

Why it works: Fish and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,341 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Fish and Macaroni Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Boil the white fish and macaroni until cooked.
Mix the boiled fish and macaroni with salad dressing.
Garnish with sliced hard-boiled egg and parsley.

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.

Fish + parsleytop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,341 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,765 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Fish + eggtop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,782 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

White fish: Provides the main protein and flaky texture of the salad.
Macaroni: Adds bulk and a chewy, starchy body that holds the dressing.
Salad dressing: Adds moisture, richness and tang that bind the fish and pasta together.
Hard-boiled egg: Adds creamy texture and mild richness as a garnish.