Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Salmon Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Tear the salmon into flakes and pound it in a mortar to a smooth paste.
Boil the breadcrumbs in enough milk to absorb them.
Beat the breadcrumbs and milk until smooth, then let cool.
Mix the cooled mixture with the salmon and add salt, cayenne, nutmeg, and essence of anchovies.
Pound the mixture again until well combined, then add the whisked eggs.
Press the mixture into a well-buttered mold.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,685 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Nutmeg + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together24,377 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Salmon + buttertop 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
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, milk, pepper, egg, butter):
- Parsleyfits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
- Dillfits about as well
- Cinnamonfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, milk, pepper, egg, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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