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Deviled Salmon

A baked salmon and cracker crumb dish seasoned with onion, butter, salt, pepper, and paprika.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Deviled Salmon

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Flake the salmon finely with a fork.

  2. Crush the crackers into crumbs.

Assemble

  1. In a well-buttered baking dish, layer the salmon and cracker crumbs alternately.

  2. Season each layer with salt, pepper, paprika, onion, and butter.

  3. Pour the hot water over the mixture.

  4. Top with a final layer of cracker crumbs, dotted with butter.

Bake

  1. Bake at 400 °F (200 °C) until golden brown.

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. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  4. Salmon + oniontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,529 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon
Provides the main body and savory flavor of the dish.
Cracker crumbs
Absorb liquid and help bind the layers into a soft, cohesive mass.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the top brown in the oven.
Onion
Adds savory aroma and sharpness that flavors the salmon layers.
Hot water
Moistens the crumbs and gently cooks the mixture as it bakes.

The step that matters

Baking until golden brown. Baking long enough lets the surface brown through Maillard reactions and the crumbs dry slightly, giving flavor and a firm top. Too little time leaves the center wet and pale, while too long can dry the salmon.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Capsicumfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, butter, pepper. 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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