Why it works: Ketchup and sauce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,099 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Baked Halibut or Salmon
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Soak the fish in cold water with a little coarse sea salt for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Place a gridiron over a dripping pan with a little hot water.
Bake and brown
Bake the fish for 30 minutes for a small fish or 1 hour for a large fish.
Butter the top of the fish just before it is done and brown it nicely.
Make the sauce and serve
In a separate bowl, mix the gravy from the dripping pan with ketchup, pungent sauce, and lemon juice.
Thicken the sauce with brown flour mixed with a little cold water.
Serve the fish garnished with parsley and currant jelly.
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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Ketchup + saucetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,099 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Ketchup + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,435 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Brown flour
- Thickens the sauce so it clings to the fish instead of running off.
- Butter
- Adds fat and helps the top of the fish brown richly in the oven.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and balances its richness.
- Ketchup
- Adds sweetness, tang and body to the sauce.
The step that matters
Butter the top of the fish just before it is done. Butter added too early can scorch or burn before the fish cooks through, while adding it near the end lets the surface brown evenly. Timing matters because the fish's thickness changes how long it needs, so checking doneness first helps prevent overcooking.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, butter, ketchup, sauce, lemon, flour, parsley):
- Limefits better
- Avocadofits better
- Orangefits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, butter, ketchup, sauce, lemon, flour, parsley. 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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