Why it works: Sage and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 887 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Baked Salmon
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the fish
Rub the salmon inside and out with salt and pepper.
Stuff the fish with buttered bread slices moistened with hot milk or water, adding sage or thyme if desired.
Tie the fish with thread to keep the stuffing in, then place it on muffin rings in a dripping pan.
Bake and baste
Dot the fish with butter, dredge with flour, and add 1 pint of hot water to the pan for basting.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 1 hour, basting frequently.
Make the gravy and serve
After removing the fish, add lemon slices to the pan and let them brown slightly.
Dredge in 1 teaspoon of flour, add a small bit of butter, and stir until browned without burning.
Add ½ cup of boiling water, stir until smooth, strain the gravy, and serve with the lemon slices.
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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Sage + lemontop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together887 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Pepper + sagetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,388 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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, cooking through in the oven while staying moist when basted.
- Bread slices
- Make the stuffing, soaking up liquid and adding body that holds the fish's inside together.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the surface brown during baking.
- Flour
- Dredged over the fish and pan to thicken the gravy and aid browning.
- Lemon
- Adds acidity and a bright flavour, and browns slightly in the pan juices.
The step that matters
Basting the fish during the hour-long bake. Frequent basting with the hot liquid in the pan keeps the surface from drying out, so the fish stays moist while it cooks through.
Swap the sage
The recipe marks sage as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, pepper, bread, milk, butter, flour, lemon):
- Parsleyfits better
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Marjoramfits about as well
- Sagethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, pepper, bread, milk, butter, flour, lemon. 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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