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Salmon Pie

A baked pie with boiled potatoes, salt pork, canned salmon, and puff pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,668 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Salmon Pie

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

  1. Cut the boiled potatoes into neat pieces.

  2. Dice the boiled salt pork.

  3. Divide the canned salmon into symmetrical pieces.

  4. Roll out the puff pastry, cut it into squares, and roll each square into a ball.

Assemble and bake

  1. Arrange the potatoes, salt pork, and salmon alternately in a deep dish.

  2. Season with salt and pepper.

  3. Add hot water or gravy to prevent burning.

  4. Cover the dish with pastry.

  5. Make a hole in the center of the pastry.

  6. Bake at 350°F (175°C) until golden.

  7. Serve hot.

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. Potato + porktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  3. Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 recipes

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

  4. Potato + salmontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together952 recipes

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

  5. Pork + salmontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together625 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Puff pastry
Forms a crisp, golden, flaky top crust over the filling.
Salt pork
Adds fat and savory flavor that carries through the filling.
Canned salmon
Provides the main fish filling, adding flavor and savory richness.
Boiled potatoes
Adds starchy bulk and a soft texture to the filling.

The step that matters

Add hot water or gravy to prevent burning. Without added liquid, the dish can dry out and scorch during baking; the liquid keeps the filling moist and helps it heat through evenly.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, salmon, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Potatothe original
  3. Tomatofits less well
  4. Asparagusfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, salmon, pepper. 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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