Name: Salmon in Camp Cookery
Ingredients: 1 pound salmon; 1 pound can of tomatoes; Coarse sea salt, to taste; Black pepper, to taste; 2 ounces salt pork, diced; Liquid from both cans; Powdered hard bread, for topping; Dripping, for topping

Why it works: Tomato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Salmon in Camp Cookery

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Assemble

Layer the salmon and tomatoes alternately in a baking dish.
Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Add the diced salt pork and the liquid from both cans.
Cover the top with powdered hard bread.
Drizzle a little dripping on top.

Bake

Bake at 400°F (200°C) until light brown.

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.

Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Tomato + breadtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,013 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Tomato + porktop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,843 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pork + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,371 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Pepper + porktop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,121 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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 flavor and protein.
Tomatoes: Add moisture and acidity that keep the salmon from drying out during baking.
Salt pork: Adds fat and savory flavor that carries into the salmon and tomatoes.
Powdered hard bread: Forms a crumb topping that browns in the oven and adds a crisp surface.
Dripping: Adds fat to the topping, helping it brown evenly.

The step that matters

Bake until light brown. Baking only until the topping is light brown keeps the salmon moist. Overbaking dries the fish and toughens the proteins, so watch the color rather than the clock.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, pepper, pork, bread):

Capsicumfits about as well
Tomatothe original
Potatofits about as well
Asparagusfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, pepper, pork, bread. 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.

Tomato Soup526 recipes

Brown Bread461 recipes

Salmon Salad155 recipes

Salmon Croquettes129 recipes

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Salmon in Camp Cookery