Why it works: Butter and salmon 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 ↓
To Fry Salmon Steaks
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Heat 1 ounce of butter in a frying pan.
Butter one side of a piece of paper and place the salmon steak on the buttered side.
Fold the corners of the paper over the steak.
Cook and serve
Cook over moderate heat until the paper is brown.
Remove the paper and serve the steak.
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 + salmontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,481 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Adds richness and carries heat, helping the salmon brown gently and stay moist.
- Salmon steaks
- The main protein; its firm flesh holds together during frying and wrapping.
The step that matters
Cook over moderate heat until the paper is brown. Moderate heat lets the salmon cook through and the butter brown without burning. Too high a heat scorches the paper and dries the fish before its centre is done.
“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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