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Salmon Salad

A salad of canned salmon, celery, and a sweet mustard‑egg dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Salmon Salad

Why it works: Celery and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,169 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Salmon Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the dressing

  1. Chop the celery and place it in a bowl.

  2. In a saucepan, combine sugar, egg, butter, and mustard; boil until thickened.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in cream until the dressing reaches the desired consistency.

Assemble and serve

  1. Pour the dressing over the salmon and celery, mix well, and serve.

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. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Salmon + creamtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,401 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Salmon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg
Thickens the dressing as it cooks and sets into a smooth, creamy texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the tang of the mustard and dressing.
Prepared mustard
Adds sharp, acidic flavor that cuts through the richness of the dressing.
Butter
Adds fat that gives the dressing a smooth, rich mouthfeel.
Cream
Loosens the cooked dressing to the desired thickness and adds richness.

The step that matters

Boil the dressing until thickened. The egg must be cooked enough to thicken the mixture, but if it boils too hard or too long it can curdle or scramble. Stirring constantly over steady heat keeps the dressing smooth.

Swap the celery

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

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, sugar, egg, butter, mustard, 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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