Why it works: Salmon and lobster work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 313 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓
Crimped Salmon
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the salmon into slices 1.5 to 2 inches thick.
Place the slices in a bowl of strong saltwater, but do not soak them.
Wash the salmon slices well and lay them on a fish plate.
Cook and serve
Bring a pot of salted water to a fast boil and skim off any scum.
Add the salmon slices to the boiling water and cook for 10 to 15 minutes.
Dish the salmon on a napkin and serve hot with lobster sauce or melted butter.
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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Salmon + lobstertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together313 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Salmon + fish saucetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together119 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Lobster + fish saucetop 38% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together28 recipes
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Salmon
- Provides the flesh that cooks through in the boiling water, giving the dish its main texture and body.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the salmon in the brine and salted cooking water, adding flavour to the fish.
- Lobster sauce or plain melted butter
- Adds richness and fat to the mild, poached fish when served.
The step that matters
Add the salmon to a fast boil and time it closely. Cooking in water that is already at a rapid boil helps the fish cook quickly and evenly, and the 10 to 15 minute window matters because overcooking dries out the proteins and makes the flesh firm and dry.
“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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