Name: Escalloped Salmon
Ingredients: 1 can of salmon; 2 cups biscuit crumbs; 1 cup hot water; 1 tablespoon butter; ¼ teaspoon pepper; ¼ teaspoon salt

Why it works: Biscuit and pepper work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 841 recipes. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓

Escalloped Salmon

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Bake

In a baking dish, combine the salmon with its liquid, biscuit crumbs, hot water, butter, pepper, and salt, then mix well and spread evenly.
Bake for about 20 minutes until heated through.

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.

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.

Biscuit + peppertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together841 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Salmon + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,481 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Biscuit + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,009 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Salmon + biscuittop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together101 recipes

Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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 and provides its savory flavor and protein.
Biscuit crumbs: Absorb liquid and bind the mixture, giving it a soft, moist body.
Butter: Adds richness and fat, contributing flavor and a softer texture.

“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.