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Baked Salmon and Potatoes

A baked dish of mashed potatoes topped with salmon, crackers, tomato sauce, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Baked Salmon and Potatoes

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

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.

Assemble

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Spread a layer of mashed potatoes in a baking dish.

  3. Add a layer of cooked salmon on top of the potatoes.

  4. Grate enough crackers over the salmon to cover it.

  5. In a bowl, mix the juice of the canned tomatoes, chopped parsley, onion or garlic, Worcestershire sauce, pepper, and salt.

  6. Pour the sauce over the layered dish until absorbed.

Bake and serve

  1. Dot the top with small pieces of butter and cream.

  2. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

  3. Garnish with limes and parsley before serving.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Mashed potatoes
Forms the base layer that holds the salmon and absorbs the sauce.
Cooked salmon
Provides the main protein layer, which sets as it heats through.
Crackers
Crumbs on top help form a crust and browning as the dish bakes.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and helps the top brown in the oven.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness to the top layer as it bakes.
Canned tomatoes
Juice moistens the layers and adds acidity to the sauce.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, salmon, tomato, parsley, sauce, pepper, butter):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, salmon, tomato, parsley, sauce, pepper, butter. 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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