Why it works: Lettuce and potato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 322 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓
Fish Salad
Ingredients
Directions
Flake the cold fish coarsely.
Mix the fish lightly with salad dressing.
Lay the fish on a bed of lettuce.
Pour the remaining salad dressing over the fish.
Serve immediately.
Add slices of cold boiled potatoes if desired.
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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Lettuce + potatotop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together322 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Fish + potatotop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together134 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Fish + lettucetop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together196 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the potato
The recipe marks potato as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, lettuce):
- Beetrootfits better
- Cucumberfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, lettuce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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