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Baked Salmon

A whole salmon baked with butter, then topped with a milk and vinegar gravy and garnished with cracker crumbs, celery tops, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Baked Salmon

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the fish

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Sprinkle the salmon with salt and pepper.

  3. Place the fish on a small grating in a baking pan and dot with butter.

Bake

  1. Bake, basting often with butter, until nicely browned.

  2. Cover with buttered white paper to prevent drying out.

  3. Once cooked and tender, transfer to a hot dish.

Make the gravy and serve

  1. In a saucepan, combine milk, pepper vinegar, salt, mashed potato, and bring to a boil.

  2. Pour the gravy over the fish and sprinkle with browned cracker crumbs.

  3. Garnish with celery tops and curled parsley.

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.

  1. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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 to a tender, flaky texture in the oven.
Butter
Basting fat that carries heat to the surface, promoting browning and keeping the fish moist.
Milk
Forms the base of the gravy, adding creaminess and a smooth, rich body.
Mashed potato
Thickens the milk gravy, giving it body and a smooth, velvety consistency.
Pepper vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that brightens and balances the richness of the milk gravy.

The step that matters

Covering the fish with buttered paper. Dry oven heat can toughen and dry out the fish before it is fully cooked. A buttered paper cover shields the surface while the fat keeps the flesh moist and tender.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, pepper, butter, milk, vinegar, potato, parsley):

  1. Dillfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, pepper, butter, milk, vinegar, potato, parsley. 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.

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