Name: A Camp Morsel
Ingredients: 1 can of mackerel, salmon, or lobster; 1 raw onion, chopped; pickles, chopped; vinegar

Why it works: Onion and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 18,203 recipes mention both. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: fish, shellfish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

1 can of mackerel, salmon, or lobster
1 raw onion, chopped
pickles, chopped
vinegar

Directions

Chop the canned fish with the raw onion and pickles.
Pour vinegar over the mixture.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Onion + vinegartop 7% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together18,203 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Salmon + oniontop 9% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together3,528 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Salmon + vinegartop 15% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together1,675 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, vinegar):

Cucumberbetter flavor fit
Mustardbetter flavor fit
Chiveabout as good a flavor fit
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).