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 ↓
Baked Salmon
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Place the drained salmon in a buttered pan.
In a bowl, mix the flour and butter.
Pour in the boiling water to make a dressing.
Pour the dressing over the salmon.
Bake and serve
Bake for 20 to 30 minutes.
Carefully transfer the salmon to a platter using a cake turner.
Serve with hard boiled eggs and lemon slices.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Salmon + eggtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,485 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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
- Salmon
- Forms the main body of the dish and provides the flavor base.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that carries flavor and helps keep the salmon moist.
- Flour
- Thickens the boiling water into a smooth dressing that coats the salmon.
- Boiling water
- Melts the butter and hydrates the flour so it thickens into a sauce.
The step that matters
Pour in the boiling water to make a dressing. Boiling water must be added to the flour and butter mixture while hot so the starch can swell and thicken. If the water cools or the flour is not well combined, lumps form and the dressing stays thin or grainy.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, butter, flour, egg):
- Raisinfits about as well
- Avocadofits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Coconutfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, butter, flour, egg. 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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