Why it works: Chicken and salmon work together. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and 531 recipes mention both. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare the glaze
Pulse chiles with broth in a food processor until a thick paste is formed.
Set aside a small amount of the paste.
Season and cook the salmon
Brush salmon filets on all sides with chile mixture.
Sprinkle liberally with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Discard the chile mixture used to brush it.
Heat oil in a large nonstick pan over medium heat.
Place salmon filets and cook, skin side up, 1½ minutes.
Turn onto one of the smaller sides and cook 1 minute.
Flip onto one of the bigger sides and cook 1½ minutes.
Turn onto the uncooked smaller side and cook another 1 minute.
Remove salmon to a plate.
Glaze, rest and serve
Brush all sides liberally with reserved chile mixture.
Cover with foil and let rest 5 minutes.
Serve with clean chile sauce.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Chicken + salmontop 10% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together531 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Chicken + peppertop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together19,957 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
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Salmon + peppertop 15% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned 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
- Jalapeño chiles
- Provide heat and pepper flavor, and their pulp thickens into the glaze paste.
- Chicken broth
- Loosens the chiles into a spreadable paste with moisture.
- Salmon filets
- Main protein; its flesh cooks through and flakes as it sets.
- Vegetable oil
- Conducts heat in the pan and helps prevent the salmon from sticking.
The step that matters
Discard the chile mixture used to brush the raw salmon. Raw fish can carry bacteria, so the mixture that touched it should not be reused. Keeping a separate reserved portion for the glaze keeps the finished dish safe.
“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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