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 ↓
Broiled Salmon
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Preheat the grill and grease it.
Cook
Place the salmon on the grill.
Turn the salmon often to prevent burning.
Cook for 10 minutes.
Finish and serve
Butter both sides of the salmon.
Transfer to a hot platter and season with salt and pepper.
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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Salmon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,481 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Salmon + peppertop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,446 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Salmon
- Provides the main protein, which firms and turns opaque as it cooks.
- Butter
- Adds fat that carries flavor and keeps the surface moist and rich.
The step that matters
Turn the salmon often to prevent burning. Direct grill heat browns and chars the surface quickly, and sugars and proteins can burn before the fish cooks through. Turning spreads the heat and keeps the exterior from scorching.
“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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