Name: Shrimp Salad
Ingredients: shrimp; cold stewed celery root (chopped); chopped sweet parsley; chives

Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Shrimp Salad

Ingredients

shrimp
cold stewed celery root (chopped)
chopped sweet parsley
chives

Directions

Combine shrimp, chopped celery root, parsley, and chives in a bowl.
Toss gently to mix all ingredients evenly.
Serve chilled.

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 + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,810 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Parsley + chivetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,150 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Celery + chivetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together359 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Shrimp + chivetop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together282 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Shrimp + celerytop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together812 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).