Skip to main content
Main

Salmon Baked in Slices

Salmon baked in slices with a sauce of butter, water, port wine, ketchup, and anchovies.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Butter and port wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,499 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Salmon Baked in Slices

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

  1. Remove the bone from the salmon and cut the flesh into slices.

  2. Season the slices with cayenne pepper and coarse sea salt.

Make the sauce

  1. Melt the butter in the water over low heat, then mix in the port wine, ketchup, and anchovies.

  2. Let the anchovies dissolve in the liquid, then strain it.

  3. Pour the strained liquid over the salmon slices.

Bake

  1. Cover the dish with buttered paper and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until cooked through.

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 + port winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,499 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Port wine + ketchuptop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together425 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Salmon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  4. Pepper + port winetop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,804 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  5. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon fillets
Forms the main body of the dish, cooking into flaky, tender slices.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the sauce, carrying flavor across the salmon.
Port wine
Adds sweetness and depth to the sauce as it reduces with the other liquids.
Ketchup
Contributes sweetness and acidity, giving the sauce a rounded tang.
Anchovies
Dissolve into the liquid, adding savory depth without a distinct fishy taste.

The step that matters

Let the anchovies dissolve in the liquid, then strain it.. Anchovies must fully dissolve into the warm butter and liquid; undissolved pieces would remain gritty or salty in the sauce. Straining then removes any remnants for a smooth, evenly seasoned coating.

“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.

You might also like

Salmon SaladSalmon Salad155 recipesSalmon CroquettesSalmon Croquettes129 recipesCanned SalmonCanned Salmon14 recipesSmoked SalmonSmoked Salmon14 recipes