Name: Tunny Fish Salad
Ingredients: 1 small can of tunny fish; 1 large tomato, chopped; 1 stalk of celery, chopped; juice of 1 lemon; 1 small bottle of mayonnaise

Why it works: Celery and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,467 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Tunny Fish Salad

Ingredients

Directions

In a bowl, combine the tuna fish, chopped tomato, chopped celery, and lemon juice.
Add the mayonnaise and mix well.
Season to taste with salt and pepper if desired.

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 + lemontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,467 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Tomato + celerytop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,377 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Tomato + lemontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,592 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Fish + lemontop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,889 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Fish + tomatotop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together213 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-hepten-3-one (metal).

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

What each ingredient does

Tuna fish: Provides the main protein and body of the salad.
Mayonnaise: Adds fat and moisture, binding the salad together and making it creamy.
Tomato: Adds moisture and a mild, fresh sweetness to the salad.
Celery: Adds crisp texture and a mild, fresh flavour to the salad.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the rich mayonnaise.