Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Cream Salmon
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the salmon
Boil the unopened can of salmon for 15 minutes.
Open the can and pour off the oil.
Remove all bones and skin from the salmon.
Make the sauce
In a bowl, stir together the nearly boiling milk, flour, butter, onion juice, salt, and pepper.
Add the mixture to the salmon and heat through on the stove.
Bake and serve
Transfer everything to a baking dish.
Dot the dish with butter and sprinkle with bread crumbs.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until golden brown.
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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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
- Forms the bulk of the dish and provides its main flavor and texture.
- Milk
- Makes the creamy sauce that binds the salmon together and keeps it moist.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk into a smooth white sauce as it heats.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the topping brown in the oven.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden topping when baked.
The step that matters
Heating the milk, flour and butter mixture into the salmon. Flour thickens the milk only as it heats and absorbs liquid. Stirring the mixture smooth before adding it, and heating it through, keeps the sauce free of lumps and evenly thick.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, milk, flour, butter, pepper, bread):
- Potatofits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Chivefits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, milk, flour, butter, pepper, bread. 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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