Why it works: Potato and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,052 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓
Salmon Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Make the fritters
Mix the pounded potatoes with cream and the beaten egg yolk.
Add the small pieces of salmon and combine well.
Form the mixture into small fritters.
Fry the fritters in fresh lard or beef dripping until light brown.
Make the sauce and serve
For the sauce, melt the butter in a pan.
Stir in the flour and cream until smooth and hot.
Add the soy sauce and mushroom ketchup to the sauce.
Serve with hard-boiled eggs cut in quarters.
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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Potato + beeftop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,052 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,787 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Salmon
- Provides the main body and flavour of the fritters.
- Boiled potatoes
- Bind the mixture and give the fritters a soft, tender interior.
- Egg yolk
- Binds the mixture and adds richness to the fritters.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness to the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce so it becomes smooth and coats the food.
The step that matters
Frying the fritters until light brown. Frying in hot fat browns the surface and gives a crisp exterior, while the moist interior cooks through. Too little heat leaves them greasy and pale; too much burns the outside before the centre is hot.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, cream, egg, beef, butter, flour, sauce):
- Chivefits better
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Leekfits about as well
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, cream, egg, beef, butter, flour, sauce. 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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