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Tuna Niçoise

Paul Hollywood’s version of the French salad Niçoise comes with slices of fresh tuna steak and fougasse bread topped with homemade tapenade.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 25 ingredients
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Why it works: Capers and mustard 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 ↓

Tuna Niçoise

Serves 4
Prep30 min
Cook1 hr

Ingredients

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

783Calories
39 gProtein
34 gFat
82 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 18 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Salmon100g cooked208
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Sourdough1 slice (36g)93
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Plum1 medium (66g)30
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Lettuce1 cup shredded (36g)5
Olive1 large (4g)4
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Capers1 tbsp (9g) drained2
Basil5 leaves fresh (2.5g)1
Chives1 tbsp (3g)1

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. Capers + mustardtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together624 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Lemon + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,823 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Olive + caperstop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,688 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, capers, garlic, lemon, basil, pepper, white wine):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Kalefits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, capers, garlic, lemon, basil, pepper, white wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.