Name: Smoked Mackerel Pate with Griddled Toast & Cress Salad
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 400 g smoked mackerel, from; , ask your fishmonger; 200 g low-fat cream cheese; 3 lemons; 1 small bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked; 2 small punnets cress, snipped; 2 sticks celery, finely sliced, plus some of the celery leaves; extra virgin olive oil; 6 slices bread

Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Smoked Mackerel Pate with Griddled Toast & Cress Salad

Serves 6

Ingredients

400 g smoked mackerel, from
, ask your fishmonger
200 g low-fat cream cheese
3 lemons
1 small bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked
2 small punnets cress, snipped
2 sticks celery, finely sliced, plus some of the celery leaves
extra virgin olive oil
6 slices bread

Directions

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

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

692Calories

16 gProtein

25 gFat

102 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Cream Cheese	1 oz (28g)	99
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Mackerel	not in our table	0

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

By jamieoliver. 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.

Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,037 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,810 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Lemon + celerytop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,467 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Parsley + olivetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,649 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Lemon + olivetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,922 recipes

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

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

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream cheese, lemon, parsley, olive, bread):

Thymefits better
Capersfits better
Dillfits better
Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream cheese, lemon, parsley, olive, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.