Name: Salmon Salad
Ingredients: 1 can of salmon, drained, chopped, and boned; 1 cup chopped celery; ½ cup nuts; pepper to taste; ¼ teaspoon salt; hot dressing to mix

Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Salmon Salad

Ingredients

Directions

In a bowl, combine the drained, chopped salmon, chopped celery, and nuts.
Season with pepper and salt.
Add enough hot dressing to mix well.

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 + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Celery + nutstop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together169 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Salmon + celerytop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together658 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Salmon + peppertop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,446 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Salmon + nutstop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together16 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).