Name: Herring Salad
Ingredients: 2 smoked herrings; 2 potatoes; 2 apples; a little pickled red beet; 2 hard boiled eggs; 4 tablespoons Filippini dressing

Why it works: Potato and apple work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 603 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Herring Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Skin, bone, and finely dice the smoked herrings.
Boil, peel, and dice the potatoes.
Peel, core, and dice the apples.
Dice the pickled red beet and hard boiled eggs.

Assemble

Mix all ingredients well with the Filippini dressing.

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.

Potato + appletop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together603 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
Potato + eggtop 29% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,978 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Apple + eggtop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7,461 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Smoked herrings: Provide the main savoury flavour and fish texture of the salad.
Potatoes: Add bulk and a soft, starchy body that holds the other pieces together.
Apples: Contribute crisp texture and a light sweet-tart freshness against the rich fish.
Hard boiled eggs: Add creamy richness and soft texture to the salad.
Pickled red beet: Adds acidity and a sharp, earthy note that balances the fish.