Why it works: Salmon and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,481 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓
Salmon Broiled
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the salmon into 1-inch thick slices.
Season the slices with pepper and coarse sea salt.
Wrap each slice in buttered white paper, twisting or tying the ends.
Cook and serve
Broil over a clear fire for 8 minutes.
Serve with butter or tomato sauce.
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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Salmon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,481 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Salmon + peppertop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,446 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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, cooking through as the centerpiece.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, helping the fish stay tender under heat.
The step that matters
Wrapping the slices in buttered paper. The paper must be sealed tightly at the ends so the fish steams in its own moisture under the heat. A loose wrap lets juices escape and dries the salmon before it cooks through.
“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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