Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Crimped Salmon
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the salmon
Cut the salmon into slices 1½–2 inches thick.
Throw the slices into strong salt and water as they are done, but do not let them soak.
Wash the slices well, lay them on a fish plate, and put them into fast boiling salted water, well skimmed.
Boil for 10–15 minutes.
Dish the salmon onto a napkin and serve hot with lobster sauce and plain melted butter or caper fish sauce.
Make the sauce
Separate some cold boiled salmon into flakes, free them entirely from the skin, break the bones, and boil them in a pint of water for half an hour.
Strain off the liquor, put it into a clean saucepan and stir into it by degrees when it begins to boil quickly, adding two ounces of butter mixed with a large teaspoonful of flour.
When the mixture has boiled for two or three minutes, add a teaspoonful of essence of anchovies, one of good mushroom catsup, half as much lemon‑juice or chili vinegar, a half saltspoonful of pounded mace, some cayenne, and a very little salt.
Shell from half to a whole pint of shrimps, add them to the salmon, and heat the fish very slowly in the sauce by the side of the fire, but do not allow it to boil.
When it is very hot, dish and send it quickly to table.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 5 of 7 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Cayenne | 1 tsp (1.8g) | 6 |
| Vinegar | 1 tbsp (15ml) distilled | 3 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Mace | not in our table | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + macetop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,405 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
-
Butter + vinegartop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,513 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
-
Mace + vinegartop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,415 recipes
-
Flour + vinegartop 27% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,652 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Butter
- Enriches the sauce and, with flour, thickens it to a smooth, rich body.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter-enriched liquor into a sauce that coats the fish.
- Essence of anchovies
- Adds a savoury, salty depth that rounds out the sauce.
- Mace
- Adds a warm, aromatic spice note to the sauce.
The step that matters
Heat the fish slowly in the sauce without boiling. Boiling makes the proteins in the salmon and shrimp contract and toughen, turning them dry and stringy. Gentle heat keeps the flakes tender and moist.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, vinegar):
- Jalapenofits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Capersfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, vinegar. 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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