Why it works: Pepper and parsley 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
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the salmon
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, combine the salmon, beaten eggs, cream, salt, and pepper.
Transfer the mixture to a dish and place it in a pan of water.
Bake and serve
Bake for 20 minutes.
Turn the baked salmon out onto a hot platter.
In a saucepan, melt the butter, then stir in the flour and gradually add the boiling milk.
Cook until thickened, then stir in the chopped parsley.
Pour the sauce around the salmon and serve.
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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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Eggs
- Bind the salmon mixture and set during baking to give it a firm, sliceable structure.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness, keeping the baked salmon tender rather than dry.
- Butter
- Fat that combines with flour to form the roux base of the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce when cooked in melted butter with the milk.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid of the white sauce, which thickens as it cooks.
The step that matters
Baking the salmon in a water bath. Placing the dish in a pan of water moderates the oven heat around the custard-like egg mixture. Gentle, even heat helps the eggs set smoothly without curdling, browning or drying out.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, egg, cream, pepper, butter, flour, milk):
- Nutmegfits better
- Capersfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Cinnamonfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, egg, cream, pepper, butter, flour, milk. 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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