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Salad

Herring Salad

A salad of flaked herring, apples, potatoes, nuts, pickle, onion, green pepper, capers, and egg yolks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Herring Salad

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, combine the flaked herring, diced apples, diced potatoes, chopped nuts, chopped pickle, chopped onion, chopped green pepper, capers, and the yolks of the hard boiled eggs.

  2. Mix the yolks with a little vinegar, then add to the salad mixture. Stir everything together, adding more vinegar to taste if needed.

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.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Onion + caperstop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,381 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Potato + caperstop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together224 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 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

Herrings
Provides the main fish flavour and the flaked body of the salad.
Apples
Adds crisp texture and a touch of sweetness against the salty fish.
Potatoes
Adds bulk and a soft, starchy texture that holds the salad together.
Hard boiled eggs
Yolks are mashed with vinegar to add richness and bind the salad.
Pickle
Adds sharp acidity and a briny crunch that cuts through the fish.

The step that matters

Mixing the egg yolks with vinegar. Mashing the yolks with vinegar first lets them blend into a smooth dressing instead of leaving dry lumps. Adding vinegar gradually and tasting lets the cook balance acidity without making the salad sour.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, nuts, onion, pepper, capers, egg):

  1. Limefits better
  2. Lemonfits better
  3. Avocadofits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, nuts, onion, pepper, capers, egg. 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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