Why it works: Salmon and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,481 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓
Broiled Salmon
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Preheat the broiler.
Season the salmon fillets with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Broil and serve
Place the salmon on a broiler pan and dot with butter.
Broil for 6-8 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.
Serve immediately.
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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Salmon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,481 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Salmon + peppertop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,446 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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 to a flaky texture as its proteins set.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, helping the surface brown and keeping the fish from drying out.
The step that matters
Broil until the fish just flakes. Salmon dries out quickly under intense heat, and proteins toughen once overcooked. Checking for flakes with a fork, rather than relying only on time, helps keep the flesh moist and tender.
“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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