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Fish Salad

A chilled fish salad made with mayonnaise, celery, onion, parsley, and lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Fish Salad

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the fish

  1. Cut the fish fillets into smaller pieces, about the size of fingers.

  2. Soak the fillets in oil, vinegar, pepper, and salt for a while.

  3. Skin the fish, remove the bones, and roll the fish into finger shapes.

Cook

  1. Place the fillets on a bed of chopped celery and pour mayonnaise over each fillet.

  2. Place the rolled fish in a pan, add broth, vinegar, salt, white pepper, onion, and parsley.

  3. Cover with a flat lid, place a weight on top, and cook in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 20 to 30 minutes.

Dress and serve

  1. Let the fish cool, then moisten with oil and vinegar in a bowl.

  2. Arrange the fillets around a conical pile of chopped celery or lettuce and pour dressing over all.

  3. Garnish with lemon slices.

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. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Celery + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,467 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Fillets of fish
Provide the main protein, which sets into firm, flaky pieces when gently cooked.
Mayonnaise
Adds fat and richness, keeping the fish moist and creamy as it cooks.
Celery
Forms a crisp bed under the fish, adding fresh crunch against the soft texture.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the fish and balances the richness of the mayonnaise and oil.
Oil
Adds fat that carries flavour and keeps the fish moist after cooling.
Broth
Provides liquid in the pan so the fish steps gently and stays moist.

The step that matters

Cooking the covered fish in the oven. Fish proteins set and toughen quickly once they reach firm doneness, so a covered pan with liquid and a weight helps it cook gently and stay moist. Overcooking makes it dry and crumbly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, vinegar, pepper, celery, parsley, lemon):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, vinegar, pepper, celery, parsley, lemon. 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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