Name: Salmon Salad
Ingredients: 1 cup cold boiled or canned salmon, flaked; 2 cups chopped celery, washed and dried; Salt and pepper to taste; 3 tablespoons salad oil; 1 tablespoon vinegar; Mayonnaise for topping; Optional: sliced or quartered hard-boiled eggs, pickled beets, olives, capers for garnish

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

1 cup cold boiled or canned salmon, flaked
2 cups chopped celery, washed and dried
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons salad oil
1 tablespoon vinegar
Mayonnaise for topping
Optional: sliced or quartered hard-boiled eggs, pickled beets, olives, capers for garnish

Directions

Make the salad

In a bowl, mix the salmon and chopped celery.
Season with salt and pepper.
Pour the salad oil and vinegar over the mixture and toss gently.

Serve

Top with mayonnaise and serve immediately.
Garnish with hard-boiled eggs, pickled beets, olives, or capers if desired.

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).
Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,485 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Celery + vinegartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,627 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Salmon + celerytop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together658 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon: Provides the main protein and flaky texture of the salad.
Celery: Adds crunch and a fresh, crisp texture against the soft fish.
Salad oil: Adds fat and moisture, coating the salmon and celery and carrying flavor.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the flavor of the fish and oil.
Mayonnaise: Adds richness and creaminess as the topping.