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Steamed Salmon

A steamed salmon dish with breadcrumbs, butter, parsley, eggs, milk, and anchovy sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Steamed Salmon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Preheat the steamer.

  2. In a bowl, combine the salmon, breadcrumbs, melted butter, chopped parsley, eggs, and a little milk. Mix well and pour the mixture into a mold.

Steam and serve

  1. Steam for 1 hour.

  2. Prepare a white sauce and season it with anchovy sauce.

  3. Pour the sauce over the salmon when serving.

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. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

  3. Salmon + anchovytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together535 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Egg + anchovytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,330 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + anchovytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,697 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set firm when steamed.
Fine breadcrumbs
Add body and absorb moisture so the loaf holds its shape.
Salmon
Provides the main protein that sets into the loaf as it cooks.
Melted butter
Adds richness and moisture to the mixture.
Milk
Adds moisture that keeps the mixture tender while steaming.

The step that matters

Steam for 1 hour. Steaming gently cooks the egg-bound mixture through. Too little time leaves it loose and undercooked, while overcooking can make it dry and rubbery.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, butter, egg, milk, anchovy, sauce):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Tarragonfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, butter, egg, milk, anchovy, sauce. 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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