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Salmon Salad

A chilled salad of flaked salmon mixed with celery, cracker crumbs, lemon juice, mayonnaise, served on lettuce leaves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Salmon Salad

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

  1. Mash the salmon until smooth.

  2. Add the chopped celery and cracker crumbs.

  3. Stir in the lemon juice and mayonnaise.

  4. Serve the mixture on lettuce leaves.

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.

  1. Celery + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,467 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Celery + lettucetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,033 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  3. Lemon + lettucetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,559 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Salmon + lemontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,918 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Salmon + lettucetop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together487 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

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 and flakey texture of the salad.
Celery
Adds crisp texture and a fresh, mild crunch.
Cracker crumbs
Absorb moisture and help bind the salad together.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich salmon flavor.
Mayonnaise
Adds fat and moisture, binding the mixture into a creamy spread.

Swap the lettuce

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, celery, lemon):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Lettucethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, celery, lemon. 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.

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