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Salad

Salmon Salad

A salad of salmon, cabbage, cucumbers, hard‑boiled eggs, dressed with vinegar, salt, pepper, mustard, and optional celery.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Salmon Salad

Why it works: Mustard and celery are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Salmon Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove bones from the salmon and cut it into small pieces.

  2. In a bowl, combine the salmon, cabbage, cucumbers, and hard-boiled eggs.

Dress and serve

  1. In a saucepan, heat the vinegar until scalding.

  2. Add salt, pepper, and mustard to the hot vinegar to taste.

  3. Pour the hot vinegar mixture over the salad and mix well.

  4. Add chopped celery if desired.

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. Mustard + celerytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,281 recipes

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

  3. Cabbage + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,645 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  5. Cabbage + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 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

What each ingredient does

Salmon
Provides the main protein and flaky texture of the salad.
Hard-boiled eggs
Add richness and a soft, tender texture to the salad.
Cabbage
Adds crisp texture and bulk to the salad.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and softens the vegetables slightly.

The step that matters

Pouring the hot vinegar over the salad. The vinegar must be heated until scalding so it carries enough heat and flavor to season the salad evenly. Mixing it in well distributes the acidity so no area tastes sharp or flat.

Swap the celery

The recipe marks celery as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, cabbage, cucumber, egg, vinegar, pepper, mustard):

  1. Dillfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, cabbage, cucumber, egg, vinegar, pepper, mustard. 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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