Name: Jellied Fish Salad
Ingredients: 2 cupfuls fish flakes; ¼ package soaked gelatin; 1 generous cup hot fish or chicken broth; finely minced capers; 1 small sweet green pepper, blanched and chopped; or 1 pimento, cut in small bits; coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt'); lettuce heads; salad dressing

Why it works: Capers and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 372 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Jellied Fish Salad

Ingredients

2 cupfuls fish flakes
¼ package soaked gelatin
1 generous cup hot fish or chicken broth
finely minced capers
1 small sweet green pepper, blanched and chopped
or 1 pimento, cut in small bits
coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt')
lettuce heads
salad dressing

Directions

Prepare the fish

Cook the fish in well-seasoned and acidulated water until done.

Make the salad

Flake the fish and mix with capers, green pepper, and gelatin.
Combine with hot broth and mix well.
Mold the mixture and chill until set.
Unmold and serve on lettuce with salad 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.

Capers + lettucetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together372 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Pepper + lettucetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,037 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Capers + peppertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,088 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Fish + caperstop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together165 recipes

Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Fish + lettucetop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together196 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

What each ingredient does

Fish flakes: Provide the main body of the salad, which holds together once the gelatin sets.
Gelatin: Sets the mixture into a firm, sliceable mold when chilled.
Hot fish or chicken broth: Dissolves the softened gelatin and carries flavor through the mixture.
Capers: Add a sharp, briny acidity that cuts the richness of the fish.

The step that matters

Combine with hot broth and mix well. Gelatin must be fully dissolved in hot liquid before chilling; if it stays clumped or cools too early, the mixture will not set evenly.

Swap the capers

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, gelatin, pepper, lettuce):

Tarragonfits better
Capersthe original
Parsleyfits about as well
Celeryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, gelatin, pepper, lettuce. 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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Jellied Fish Salad