Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Boiled Salmon
Ingredients
Directions
Place the salmon in cold water with 6 oz of coarse sea salt for each gallon of water.
Bring the water to a boil, skimming off any scum that forms.
Reduce heat and simmer gently until the meat separates easily from the bone.
If the salmon is done before serving, keep it warm with hot cloths over it, but do not leave it in the water.
Serve on a hot napkin, garnished with cut lemon and parsley, alongside lobster or shrimp sauce and plain melted butter.
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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Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Salmon + lobstertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together313 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Salmon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,481 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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, cooked gently in salted water until the flesh is tender.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the cooking water so the salmon is flavored as it poaches.
The step that matters
Simmer gently instead of boiling. A hard boil agitates and toughens the proteins, leaving the flesh dry and ragged, while gentle simmering cooks it evenly and keeps it moist and tender.
“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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