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Scalloped Salmon

A baked salmon dish topped with breadcrumbs and butter, seasoned with salt and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Scalloped 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

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Melt the butter and pour it over the bread crumbs, mixing well.

Assemble and bake

  1. In a buttered baking dish, layer 1/3 of the crumbs, followed by 1/2 of the salmon and a little seasoning.

  2. Add half of the remaining crumbs, then the rest of the salmon, more seasoning, and top with the remaining crumbs.

  3. Moisten the mixture with fish stock or water.

  4. Bake until golden brown.

Serve

  1. Serve with any kind of sauce.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Bread + fishtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  3. Salmon + fishtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,078 recipes

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

  4. Butter + fishtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

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

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

Salmon
Forms the main body of the dish and provides its flavour and protein.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and butter, giving the layers body and a soft, moist texture.
Butter
Coats the crumbs, adding richness and helping them brown in the oven.
Fish stock or water
Moistens the layers so the crumbs soften and the dish stays tender while baking.

The step that matters

Moistening the mixture. Crumbs need enough liquid to soften and hold the layers together, but too much makes the dish soggy and loose. Add the liquid evenly so the crumbs absorb it while the top still browns.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, bread, butter, fish):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, bread, butter, fish. 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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