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Salmon Surprise

A baked salmon dish with mashed potatoes, oysters, and a beaten egg yolk topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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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 ↓

Salmon Surprise

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

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 potatoes

  1. Boil the potatoes with their skins on until tender.

  2. Peel and mash them with butter and warm milk.

Assemble

  1. Arrange a border of mashed potatoes on a flat, oval dish.

  2. In the center, place the salmon pieces, season with salt, pepper, mace, and parsley.

  3. Cover the salmon with a layer of raw oysters and add a little oyster liquor.

  4. Top with a smooth layer of mashed potatoes and brush with the beaten egg yolk.

  5. Make a small hole in the center and bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until browned.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Salmon + oystertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together672 recipes

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

  5. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Form the mashed base and border, providing bulk and a soft, creamy texture.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, making the mashed potatoes smoother and more flavourful.
Salmon
Provides the main fish filling, adding savoury flavour and a tender, flaky texture.
Raw oysters
Add briny flavour and moisture to the salmon layer as it cooks.
Beaten egg yolk
Brushed on top, it promotes browning and a glossy golden crust in the oven.

The step that matters

Brush with egg yolk and bake until browned. The egg yolk causes browning as it cooks in the oven. Without it, the top stays pale. Baking in a hot oven sets the potato top and cooks the raw oysters through, so the dish needs enough time to brown without drying out.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, butter, milk, salmon, pepper, parsley, oyster):

  1. Dillfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, butter, milk, salmon, pepper, parsley, oyster. 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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