Why it works: Butter and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Cotelettes De Saumon a LA Vicomtesse — Salmon Cutlets, Viscountess Fashion
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and cook the salmon cutlets as directed in the recipe for Salmon Cutlets, Venetian Style.
Arrange the cutlets on a serving dish in a crown shape.
Garnish the center with asparagus tips tossed in butter.
Serve Bearnaise sauce on the side.
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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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Salmon + asparagustop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together141 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Salmon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,481 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Asparagus + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,026 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Salmon + saucetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,765 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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
Swap the asparagus
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, butter, sauce):
- Chivefits about as well
- Shallotfits about as well
- Asparagusthe original
- Horseradishfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, butter, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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