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Salmon Au Gratin

A baked salmon dish topped with béchamel, Parmesan, bread crumbs, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Salmon Au Gratin

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

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 the salmon

  1. Remove the bones and skin from the warm cooked salmon.

  2. Break the fish into flakes or small pieces.

  3. Season with pepper and a little cayenne pepper.

Assemble

  1. Moisten with béchamel sauce and mix in some grated Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs.

  2. Arrange the mixture neatly in a buttered gratin dish.

  3. Sprinkle with more grated Parmesan cheese and fine bread crumbs.

  4. Dot with small bits of butter on top.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake at 400°F (200°C) until light brown and serve in the same dish.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Parmesan cheese + buttertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Pepper + parmesan cheesetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  4. Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Parmesan cheese + breadtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together577 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sauce and butter 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

What each ingredient does

Cooked salmon
Forms the main body of the dish and provides its flavour.
Béchamel sauce
Adds moisture and a creamy texture that keeps the fish from drying out.
Grated parmesan cheese
Adds savoury flavour and helps the top brown when baked.
Bread crumbs
Creates a crisp, golden topping and absorbs excess moisture.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the topping brown in the oven.

The step that matters

Moisten with béchamel sauce. The sauce must be just enough to bind the flaked fish without making it wet or heavy. Too much liquid makes the gratin soggy and stops the topping from crisping in the oven.

“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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