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Salad

Salmon Salad

Salmon salad with lettuce, lemon garnish, vinegar sauce, cream, and raw eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Salmon Salad

Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Salmon Salad

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the salmon

  1. Remove all bones and skin from the salmon, leaving large pieces.

  2. Arrange the salmon on a bed of lettuce leaves or on a platter with sliced lemons for garnish.

Make the dressing

  1. In a saucepan, combine vinegar, salt, and sugar; bring to a boil.

  2. In a bowl, beat together cornstarch, butter, and boiling water until creamy.

  3. Once the vinegar mixture is boiling, pour it over the creamy mixture and stir well.

  4. Allow to cool, then add cream and raw eggs, mixing thoroughly.

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

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

  2. Lettuce + lemontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,559 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  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. Lettuce + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,370 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon fillets
Forms the main body of the salad, supplying the protein and flaky texture.
Cornstarch
Thickens the liquid mixture so the dressing becomes creamy and holds together.
Eggs
Add richness and help bind and thicken the dressing as it sets.
Cream
Adds fat and smoothness, softening the sharpness of the vinegar.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that gives the dressing its tang.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Pour the boiling vinegar mixture into the creamy mixture gradually and stir well. Hot liquid added to starch cooks it and thickens the sauce; stirring keeps it smooth and prevents lumps from forming.

Swap the lettuce

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

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Cucumberfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Lettucethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, lemon, vinegar, sugar, butter, cream, 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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