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
Prepare
Scale and clean the salmon, ensuring no blood remains inside.
Place the fish in a large pot and cover it with cold water, adding the salt.
Cook
Bring the water to a boil, skimming off any scum that forms.
Reduce heat and let it simmer gently until the meat separates easily from the bone.
Do not overcook; drain the fish when done and keep warm with cloths.
Serve
Serve on a hot napkin, garnished with lemon and parsley, alongside lobster or shrimp sauce and 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; gentle simmering firms its flesh while keeping it moist.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the poaching water and helps season the fish from the start.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat to the plain fish when served melted.
The step that matters
Do not overcook; drain the fish when done. Proteins in fish tighten and dry out when heated too long, so the fish should be removed as soon as the flesh separates easily from the bone.
“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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