Name: Salmon Salad
Ingredients: 1 cup cold salmon, minced; 1 cup chopped celery or cabbage; Lettuce leaves for lining the dish; 2 tablespoons oil; 3 tablespoons vinegar; Salt to taste; Pepper to taste

Why it works: Celery and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,033 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

Salmon Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

In a bowl, mix the minced salmon with the chopped celery or cabbage.
Line a dish with lettuce leaves.
Turn the salmon mixture into the lined dish.

Dress and serve

In a separate bowl, combine the oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper to make the dressing.
Pour the dressing over the salmon salad.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + lettucetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,033 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,037 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Lettuce + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,370 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold salmon: Forms the main body of the salad and provides its protein and flavor.
Celery or cabbage: Adds crisp texture and bulk to the salmon mixture.
Oil: Adds fat and carries flavor in the dressing, giving a smoother mouthfeel.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness of the fish and oil.