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 says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Melt lard in a shallow baking dish and place the salmon slices in it.
Melt butter, stir in flour, and spread the mixture over the top of each salmon slice, salting the fish first.
Bake
Bake in the hot oven for 30 minutes.
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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Salmon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,481 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Salmon + flourtop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,776 recipes
Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).
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 cooks to a flaky texture in the oven.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, and carries flavor across the surface of the fish.
- Flour
- Thickens the melted butter into a coating that helps hold moisture in the fish.
- Lard
- Provides fat that keeps the salmon from sticking and adds richness to the bottom.
The step that matters
Watch the 30-minute bake. Salmon is lean and its proteins tighten as they cook, squeezing out moisture. Leaving it in the oven too long can make the fish dry and firm, so check it for flakiness before the full time is up.
“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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