Name: Salmon Salad
Ingredients: 1 pound flat can of best salmon or lobster, chopped fine; 1 or 2 hard boiled eggs, chopped fine; a few leaves of lettuce, cut fine; 1 cup dressing; lettuce leaves for serving; slices of hard-boiled egg for garnish

Why it works: Salmon and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,485 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Salmon Salad

Ingredients

1 pound flat can of best salmon or lobster, chopped fine
1 or 2 hard boiled eggs, chopped fine
a few leaves of lettuce, cut fine
1 cup dressing
lettuce leaves for serving
slices of hard-boiled egg for garnish

Directions

In a bowl, combine the chopped salmon or lobster, hard boiled eggs, and chopped lettuce.
Mix in the dressing until well combined.
Serve the mixture on lettuce leaves.
Garnish each serving with a slice of hard-boiled egg.

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.

Salmon + eggtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,485 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Salmon + lettucetop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together487 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Egg + lettucetop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,301 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).