Name: Salmon Salad
Ingredients: 1 can salmon; 15 crackers, finely rolled; 5 pickles, finely chopped; 5 hard boiled eggs, whites finely chopped, yolks rubbed fine in 1 tablespoon butter; salt to taste; pepper to taste; vinegar to mix

Why it works: Pepper and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,814 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Salmon Salad

Ingredients

1 can salmon
15 crackers, finely rolled
5 pickles, finely chopped
5 hard boiled eggs, whites finely chopped, yolks rubbed fine in 1 tablespoon butter
salt to taste
pepper to taste
vinegar to mix

Directions

In a bowl, combine the salmon, finely rolled crackers, and chopped pickles.
Add the chopped egg whites and the rubbed yolks mixed with butter.
Season with salt and pepper.
Add vinegar gradually until the mixture is well combined.
Serve chilled.

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.

Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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.
Eggs: Add richness and body from the yolks, and texture from the chopped whites.
Crackers: Bind the mixture and absorb moisture, giving it body.
Pickles: Add acidity and crunch that brighten the salad.

“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.