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Salmon in Shells

Salmon in shells is baked salmon topped with a buttery sauce and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Salmon in Shells

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the salmon

  1. Drain liquid from salmon and sift it finely.

  2. Place salmon in buttered baking shells.

Make the sauce

  1. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a saucepan, then stir in 2 tablespoons flour.

  2. Measure the drained liquid, add boiling water to bring total to 1 pint, and pour into butter‑flour mixture.

  3. Cook until smooth, then remove from heat.

  4. Stir in beaten egg yolks, mustard, vinegar, olive oil, and salt.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour mixture over salmon in shells.

  2. Sprinkle breadcrumbs on top, add a little butter, and bake at 400°F (200°C) until light brown.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Mustard + vinegartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Mustard + olivetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Olive + breadtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,091 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Vinegar + olivetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,297 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

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 supplies its flavour.
Butter
Enriches the flour base and adds richness and browning on top.
Flour
Thickens the liquid into a smooth sauce when cooked with butter.
Egg yolks
Thicken and enrich the sauce as they set gently with heat.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden topping during baking.

The step that matters

Cook the sauce until smooth before removing from heat. Flour must be cooked in the hot butter and liquid until smooth and thickened, or it tastes raw and leaves lumps. Egg yolks are added only after this, off the heat, so they thicken gently without scrambling.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, butter, flour, egg, vinegar, olive, bread):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Cucumberfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, butter, flour, egg, vinegar, olive, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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