Name: Fish Salad
Ingredients: 1 can of salmon or any cold fish (boiled or baked); 3 large boiled potatoes; 3 hard-boiled egg yolks; pepper to taste; coarse sea salt to taste; 2 tablespoons mustard; ⅓ cup cream; ½ cup vinegar

Why it works: Potato and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,340 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Fish Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish and potatoes

Remove the skin and bones from the fish.
Chop the boiled potatoes and mix them with the fish.

Make the dressing

Rub the yolks of the hard-boiled eggs smooth.
Season the yolks with pepper, salt, and mustard.
Add the cream and vinegar to the yolk mixture.

Assemble

Pour the dressing over the fish and potatoes.

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Potato + mustardtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,340 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,430 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,305 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks: Rubbed smooth, they bind with the cream and mustard to form a creamy dressing.
Cream: Adds richness and a smooth, soft texture to the dressing.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the dressing and balances the richness of the yolks and cream.
Mustard: Adds sharp flavor and helps emulsify the yolk dressing.
Potatoes: Add body and starch, giving the salad substance and soaking up some dressing.

Swap the potato

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

Horseradishfits better
Cucumberfits better
Chivefits better
Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, egg, pepper, mustard, cream, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.