Name: To Boil Fresh Salmon, or to Make Salmon Cutlets
Ingredients: 1 whole salmon; coarse sea salt; oil; fine herbs (such as parsley and green onion); black pepper

Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

To Boil Fresh Salmon, or to Make Salmon Cutlets

Ingredients

Directions

Split the salmon and remove the bone without disturbing the flesh.
Cut the fillets into 3 to 4-inch wide pieces.
Rub the fillets dry with a napkin.
Prepare a clear fire and place a gridiron over it, ensuring the bars are chalked to prevent sticking.
Place the salmon steaks on the gridiron and turn them until fully cooked.
Serve hot for the best flavor.

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.

Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,843 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Salmon + oniontop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,529 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Salmon + parsleytop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,516 recipes

Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).