Why it works: Flour and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,459 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Broiled Salmon
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Dust the salmon slices with cayenne pepper.
Wrap the slices in oiled or buttered paper.
Rub the bars of the grill with suet.
Broil
Broil the wrapped salmon over a clear fire for 10 to 15 minutes.
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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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Salmon + peppertop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,446 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Salmon + flourtop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,776 recipes
Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Salmon
- Forms the dish; its flesh cooks through and turns flaky as the proteins set.
- Cayenne pepper
- Adds sharp heat and aroma to the surface of the fish.
- Suet
- Fat that coats the grill bars so the fish does not stick.
The step that matters
Broil the wrapped salmon for 10 to 15 minutes. Thick slices can dry out or stay raw in the middle if timing is off. The paper shields the surface from direct heat and holds in moisture, so check that the flesh flakes easily at the centre before serving.
“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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