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Fresh Salmon Fried

Fried salmon slices served with a butter‑anchovy gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Fresh Salmon Fried

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the salmon

  1. Cut the salmon into slices that are ¾ inch thick.

  2. Dredge the salmon slices in flour or dip them in beaten eggs and coat with breadcrumbs.

Fry and make the gravy

  1. Fry the salmon in a pan until golden brown.

  2. For the gravy, melt the butter in a pan and dredge with flour until browned.

  3. Add cold water and a little anchovy sauce, then boil for a few minutes.

  4. Serve the gravy with the fried 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.

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.

  1. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Salmon + anchovytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together535 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Egg + anchovytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,330 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + anchovytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,697 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Flour and butter 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 through while the outside browns.
Flour
Dries the surface and helps the coating adhere; in the gravy, it browns with the butter to thicken the sauce.
Eggs
Act as a glue so the breadcrumbs stick evenly to the salmon.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden-brown coating when fried.
Butter
Adds richness and flavour to the gravy and helps the flour brown.

The step that matters

Frying the salmon until golden brown. Over-high heat can brown the coating before the fish cooks through, while too little heat leaves it greasy and pale. Moderate, steady heat gives an even crust and a moist interior.

“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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