Name: Salmon Salad
Ingredients: 1 can of salmon; 1/2 cup finely chopped celery; 1/4 cup finely chopped pickle; 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt; 1 teaspoon mustard; 1/2 teaspoon black pepper; 1/2 teaspoon red pepper; 1 cup melted butter; 6 hard-boiled eggs

Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Salmon Salad

Ingredients

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the salmon, chopped celery, and chopped pickle.
Season the mixture with salt, mustard, black pepper, and red pepper.
Stir in the melted butter until well combined.
Chop the hard-boiled eggs and fold them into the salad.
Serve on lettuce leaves or in a parsley shell.

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 + mustardtop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,169 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,430 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Salmon + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,481 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Salmon + eggtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,485 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon: Provides the main body and flavor of the salad.
Hard-boiled eggs: Add soft, creamy texture and richness to the salad.
Melted butter: Adds fat for richness and helps bind the salad together.
Celery: Adds crunch and freshness to the salad.
Pickle: Adds acidity and tang that balance the rich ingredients.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, mustard, pepper, butter, egg):

Capersfits better
Tarragonfits better
Dillfits better
Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, mustard, pepper, butter, egg. 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.