Name: Salmon Salad
Ingredients: 1 can of salmon; 1 cup of celery, chopped; 1 cup of English walnuts, chopped; 2 hard boiled eggs, chopped; juice of 2 lemons; pinch of salt; 3 or 4 small sweet pickles, chopped (optional)

Why it works: Celery and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,467 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Salmon Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Chop the celery, walnuts, and hard boiled eggs separately.

Mix and season

In a bowl, mix the chopped ingredients with a silver fork.
Add the lemon juice and a pinch of salt.
If desired, mix in the chopped sweet pickles.

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 + lemontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,467 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Celery + walnuttop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together852 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Walnut + lemontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,149 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Salmon + eggtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,485 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Salmon + lemontop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,918 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: Forms the main body of the salad and gives it a flaky texture.
Celery: Adds crisp crunch and a little moisture to the salad.
English walnuts: Add crunch and a rich, nutty flavor.
Hard boiled eggs: Add body and richness, helping bind the salad together.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the richness.