Name: Salmon Salad
Ingredients: 1 cup cooked salmon, skin and bones removed; 1 tablespoon capers or boiled gherkins; ⅓ cup mayonnaise; 1 small head lettuce; ½ lemon

Why it works: Capers and lettuce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 372 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Salmon Salad

Ingredients

1 cup cooked salmon, skin and bones removed
1 tablespoon capers or boiled gherkins
⅓ cup mayonnaise
1 small head lettuce
½ lemon

Directions

Prepare

Pick the salmon into moderately large flakes.
Pare off the rind of the lemon and remove the pulp, discarding the seeds.
Cut the lemon pulp into small pieces and mix with the salmon, capers, and ⅓ cup of mayonnaise, tossing lightly.

Assemble and serve

Arrange the lettuce leaves in a salad bowl, add the salmon mixture, and pour the remaining mayonnaise over the top.
Serve well-chilled.

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.

Capers + lettucetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together372 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Capers + lemontop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,222 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Lettuce + lemontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,559 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Salmon + caperstop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together458 recipes

Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).
Salmon + lemontop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,918 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon: Provides the main body and flaky texture of the salad.
Mayonnaise: Adds richness and moisture, binding the salad together.
Lemon: Adds acidity and brightness that cut through the richness of the mayonnaise.
Capers: Add a sharp, salty bite that contrasts with the mild salmon.