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Saumon— Salmon.

Salmon cutlets coated in egg and breadcrumbs, fried, served with lobster claws and piccalilli.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Sauce and lobster are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,095 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Saumon— Salmon.

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the salmon

  1. Slit the salmon down the back, remove the bone and skin, and cut into 3 or 4 pieces.

  2. Trim the pieces and season with pepper and salt.

  3. Dip each piece in egg and coat with breadcrumbs twice.

Cook and serve

  1. Heat the butter in a sauté pan and fry the cutlets briskly on both sides.

  2. Drain on paper or a cloth, insert lobster claws in the ends, and arrange on a plate.

  3. Heat the piccalilli and place it in the center of the dish, pouring the sauce around the cutlets.

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. Sauce + lobstertop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Salmon + lobstertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together313 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  3. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Salmon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  5. Salmon + eggtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,485 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Butter and sauce 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

Salmon
Forms the main body of the cutlets and provides the flesh that flakes when cooked.
Egg
Binds the breadcrumb coating so it adheres to each piece of salmon.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating that browns when fried in butter.
Butter
Conducts heat in the pan and adds richness and browning to the crust.
Piccalilli
Adds sharp, tangy acidity that contrasts with the rich fried salmon.

The step that matters

Fry the cutlets briskly on both sides. High heat sets the egg and breadcrumb coating quickly and browns it before the salmon overcooks. Slow frying lets the coating absorb butter and turn greasy, and the fish dries out.

“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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