Name: Canned Salmon
Ingredients: 1 can of salmon; ¼ cup butter; ¼ cup vinegar

Why it works: Salmon and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,481 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Canned Salmon

Ingredients

1 can of salmon
¼ cup butter
¼ cup vinegar

Directions

Prepare the salmon

Set the can of salmon in a kettle of boiling water and let it stand for 30 minutes.
Remove the can from the water and pour off the juice or oil.

Make the dressing and serve

In a saucepan, boil together equal quantities of butter and vinegar.
Pour the dressing over the salmon.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Salmon + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,481 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Butter + vinegartop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,513 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Salmon + vinegartop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,675 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter: Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the dressing as it emulsifies with the vinegar.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that brightens the flavor of the salmon and cuts its richness.

“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.