Why it works: Parsley and capers match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,550 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
Salmon Mayonnaise
Ingredients
Directions
Poach the salmon
Boil the salmon according to the directions for boiling fish.
Cool the salmon completely.
Coat and decorate
Coat the cold salmon with mayonnaise sauce mixed with ¼ cup liquid aspic jelly.
Decorate the dish with lobster coral, truffle, parsley, cucumber, olives, anchovies, capers, Indian pickles, and gherkins.
Finish with a border of chopped aspic.
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.
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.
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Parsley + caperstop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,550 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Cucumber + caperstop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together303 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Olive + caperstop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,688 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Sauce + lobstertop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,095 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Parsley + olivetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,649 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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 dish, served cold and flaked or sliced.
- Mayonnaise sauce
- Adds richness and a creamy coating that carries the flavour of the fish.
- Aspic jelly
- Sets into a glossy, cold gel that holds the coating and border in place.
- Lobster coral
- Adds colour and a rich, briny flavour as a decorative element.
The step that matters
Cool the salmon completely. Coating warm fish makes the mayonnaise and aspic melt or slip off, and aspic only sets cleanly on a fully chilled surface.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, sauce, lobster, truffle, cucumber, olive, capers):
- Tarragonfits better
- Garlicfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Turmericfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, sauce, lobster, truffle, cucumber, olive, capers. 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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