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Salmon Salad

A salad of canned salmon mixed with vinegar, eggs, butter, mustard, cayenne pepper, sweet cream, and served on lettuce.

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 lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,356 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Salmon Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the salmon

  1. Open the can of salmon and drain off the oil.

  2. Fill the can with vinegar.

  3. Place the can in a pan of boiling water for 1 hour.

  4. Drain off all the liquid.

  5. Set the salmon in a cool place.

Make the dressing

  1. In a bowl, beat the eggs until very light.

  2. Pour the boiling vinegar over the eggs.

  3. Heat the mixture until thickened.

  4. Add the butter, mustard, and cayenne pepper.

  5. Let the mixture cool.

  6. Mix in the sweet cream.

Serve

  1. Dress the salad with lettuce.

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 + lettucetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,356 recipes

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

  2. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + lettucetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,037 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
Forms the main body of the salad and provides its savory protein.
Eggs
Beaten and heated, they set and thicken the dressing into a smooth custard.
Vinegar
Adds sharpness that balances the richness of the eggs, butter, and cream.
Butter
Adds fat that gives the dressing a rounder, richer texture.
Sweet cream
Adds moisture and creaminess, softening the sharpness of the vinegar.
Mustard
Adds a sharp, aromatic bite that complements the fish and eggs.

The step that matters

Heat the mixture until thickened. Egg proteins set with heat, so gentle heat and constant stirring thicken the dressing smoothly. Too much heat scrambles the eggs into curds.

Swap the lettuce

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, vinegar, egg, butter, mustard, pepper, cream):

  1. Horseradishfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Cucumberfits about as well
  4. Lettucethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, vinegar, egg, butter, mustard, pepper, cream. 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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