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Slice of Salmon Baked

A salmon slice baked with a herb and anchovy mixture wrapped in buttered paper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Slice of Salmon Baked

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Mix salad oil, parsley, gherkin, shallot, anchovy, and cayenne sauce in a bowl.

  2. Rub the mixture over both sides of the slice of salmon.

  3. Wrap the salmon in buttered paper.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 30 minutes.

  2. Serve the salmon in the paper.

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. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Anchovy + salmontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together535 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Parsley + anchovytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,702 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Shallot + saucetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,303 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon
Forms the main protein that cooks gently inside the paper, staying moist as it bakes.
Salad oil
Carries the herbs and seasonings and helps keep the fish moist during baking.
Anchovy
Adds savory depth and salty umami that enriches the flavor of the fish.
Gherkin
Contributes acidity and a bright, tangy note that cuts the richness of the fish.
Shallot
Adds mild aromatic sharpness that softens as it bakes against the fish.

The step that matters

Wrap the salmon in buttered paper. The sealed paper traps steam so the fish cooks gently and stays moist. If the wrap is loose or torn, juices escape and the salmon can dry out in the oven.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shallot, anchovy, sauce, salmon):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Garlicfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against shallot, anchovy, sauce, salmon. 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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