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Fish Salad

A salad of boiled potatoes, eggs, onions, cucumber, sardines, mayonnaise, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Fish Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cube the potatoes.

  2. Slice the onions and cucumber.

  3. Mince the parsley.

  4. Cut the eggs finely.

  5. Flake the sardines.

Assemble and serve

  1. Mix all ingredients with the cooked mayonnaise.

  2. Garnish with split sardines, capers, and parsley.

  3. Serve on lettuce leaves.

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.

  1. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

  3. Cucumber + parsleytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,564 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Onion + cucumbertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,050 recipes

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

  5. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 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

Potatoes
Provide the bulk and firm body of the salad.
Cooked mayonnaise
Adds fat and moisture that coat and bind the salad together.
Eggs
Add richness and a soft, crumbly texture.
Sardines
Supply a savory, oily flavour that stands out in the salad.
Onions
Add a sharp aroma and a bite that balances the rich dressing.
Cucumber
Adds crisp texture and freshness through its moisture.

The step that matters

Mix all ingredients with the cooked mayonnaise.. Fold gently so the potato cubes and eggs keep their shape. Overworking breaks them down into a mush, and the mayonnaise should coat the pieces evenly so every bite is dressed.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, egg, cucumber, parsley):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Lettucefits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, egg, cucumber, parsley. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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