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Salmon Pie

A baked salmon pie with mashed potatoes, breadcrumbs, butter, eggs, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Salmon Pie

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

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Remove the skin and bones from the salmon and flake it into a bowl.

Make the filling

  1. Mix in the mashed potatoes, breadcrumbs, oiled butter, and eggs.

  2. Gradually add the milk until the mixture is smooth.

  3. Pour the mixture into a greased pie dish.

Bake

  1. Bake for about 30-40 minutes or until set and golden on top.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  3. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  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).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the mixture and set it into a firm, sliceable pie as they cook.
Milk
Adds moisture and makes the mixture smooth and creamy before baking.
Mashed potatoes
Add body and softness to the filling, helping it hold together.
White breadcrumbs
Absorb moisture and help give the filling a firmer, more cohesive texture.
Oiled butter
Adds richness and fat, contributing flavour and a tender texture.

The step that matters

Adding the milk gradually. Adding milk slowly lets the starches and proteins blend evenly, so the mixture becomes smooth rather than lumpy. Even mixing also helps the eggs set uniformly during baking.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, butter, egg, milk):

  1. Asparagusfits about as well
  2. Potatothe original
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Leekfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, butter, egg, milk. 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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