Why it works: Lettuce and olive match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,580 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓
Saumon, Sauce Mayonnaise
Ingredients
Directions
Poach and cool
Boil the salmon until cooked.
Place the boiled salmon between two dishes and let it cool.
Pour a little fish stock over the salmon to keep it moist.
Dress and serve
Carefully place the salmon on a long serving dish.
Spread the mayonnaise over the entire salmon.
Garnish with sliced lemon, crisp lettuce leaves, pickled beets, hard-boiled eggs, and olives.
Chill in a very cold place until ready to serve.
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.
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Lettuce + olivetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,580 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Lemon + olivetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,922 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Lemon + lettucetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,559 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Salmon + fishtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,078 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Fish + olivetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together279 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Salmon
- Forms the main body of the dish and provides the flesh that is cooked, then served cold.
- Fish stock
- Adds moisture to the salmon while it cools so the flesh stays tender.
- Mayonnaise
- Coats the salmon in a rich, fatty layer that adds moisture and a creamy texture.
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Add firm, mild texture and richness as a garnish alongside the fish.
The step that matters
Keeping the salmon moist while it cools. Cooked fish loses moisture quickly as it cools and dries out. Adding a little fish stock helps keep the flesh tender before the mayonnaise is spread over it.
Swap the lettuce
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, fish, lemon, egg, olive):
- Asparagusfits better
- Cucumberfits better
- Chivefits better
- Lettucethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, fish, lemon, egg, olive. 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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