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Potted Salmon

A baked salmon dish seasoned with mace, cloves, pepper, bay leaves, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Isabella Beeton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Potted Salmon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the salmon

  1. Skin the salmon and clean it thoroughly by wiping with a cloth (water would spoil it).

  2. Cut the salmon into square pieces and rub them with salt.

  3. Let the pieces remain until thoroughly drained.

Bake and pot

  1. Lay the pieces in a dish with the other ingredients and bake.

  2. When done, drain them from the gravy, press into pots for use, and, when cold, pour clarified butter over them.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

13Calories
0 gProtein
0 gFat
3 gCarbs

Counts 2 of 3 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 2 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Macenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Isabella Beeton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

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. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Mace + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,257 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

Mace and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Salmon (in the method)
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender and flaky as it bakes.
Bay-leaves
Adds a subtle aromatic flavour to the fish during baking.
Mace
Adds a warm, aromatic spice flavour to the fish.
Cloves
Adds a warm, aromatic spice flavour to the fish.
Clarified butter (in the method)
Seals the top of the potted fish and adds richness and fat to it.

The step that matters

Thoroughly drying the salmon. Any remaining moisture on the fish can dilute seasoning, cause a watery texture, and leave water in the pot. Wiping and draining the salmon well before baking helps keep the texture firm and the flavour concentrated.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clove, pepper. 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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