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Mackerel and Bacon Salad

Traditionally surf and turf is all about lobster and steak but I prefer something a little less extravagant. This humble salad combines one of my favourite fish - smoked mackerel - with some crisp, streaky bacon.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and capers match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 624 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Mackerel and Bacon Salad

Serves 4
Prep30 min
Cook30 min

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

379Calories
9 gProtein
18 gFat
48 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 10 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bacon1 slice cooked (8g)43
Dill5 sprigs fresh (1g) / 1 tsp dried4
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Capers1 tbsp (9g) drained2
Saladnot in our table0
Mackerelnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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. Mustard + caperstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together624 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Mustard + dilltop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together560 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Capers + dilltop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together117 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Capers + olivetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,688 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Potato + dilltop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together423 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (white wine, vinegar, potato, mustard, capers, olive, dill):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Horseradishfits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against white wine, vinegar, potato, mustard, capers, olive, dill. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.