Why it works: Mushroom and buckwheat share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 27 recipes mention both. Both carry trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 4Ingredients
Contains: milk, wheat, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Also mentioned in the method: noodles
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, add the buckwheat noodles and cook according to package directions until just tender, about 5 minutes. Drain, reserving a splash of the cooking water.
Meanwhile, thinly slice the button mushrooms. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat and cook the mushrooms for about 5 minutes until golden.
Pour in the dry white wine and simmer until reduced by about half, about 5 minutes.
Lower the heat, stir in the cream and simmer gently for 3 to 4 minutes until slightly thickened. Season with sea salt and black pepper.
Finely grate the zest of the lemon, then squeeze in the juice of half of it. Cut the other half into wedges for serving.
Finely chop the dill and chives. Cut the smoked salmon into thin strips.
Add the drained noodles and a splash of the reserved water to the sauce and toss over low heat for 1 to 2 minutes until coated.
Gently fold in the smoked salmon and most of the dill and chives, heating only until the salmon is warmed through, about 1 minute. Serve topped with the remaining herbs, lemon wedges and black pepper.
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.
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Mushroom + buckwheattop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together27 recipes
Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Mushroom + white winetop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,704 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).
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Dill + peppertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,630 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Olive + mushroomtop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together4,057 recipes
Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
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Dill + chivetop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together228 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the chive
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, mushroom, white wine, dill, cream, salmon, pepper):
- Tomatobetter flavor fit
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Chivethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against olive, mushroom, white wine, dill, cream, salmon, pepper. 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).
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