Name: Oyster Salad
Ingredients: 3 hard boiled eggs; 1 pint oysters; ½ tablespoon boiled fish; 3 stalks celery; 1 boiled potato; 3 pickles; mayonnaise dressing

Why it works: Celery and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,047 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Oyster Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Cut the hard boiled eggs, oysters, celery, boiled potato, and pickles into small pieces.
Flake the boiled fish.

Assemble

Combine all ingredients and serve with mayonnaise 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.

Celery + potatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,047 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Oyster + fishtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together496 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Egg + oystertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,103 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Fish + potatotop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together134 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Oyster + potatotop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together229 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

What each ingredient does

Oysters: Provide the main briny flavor and tender texture that define the salad.
Hard boiled eggs: Add richness and a soft, creamy body to the salad.
Boiled potato: Adds starchy bulk and a mild body that holds the other pieces together.
Mayonnaise dressing: Adds fat and moisture that bind the salad and carry its flavor.