Why it works: Lobster and sauce 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 ↓
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 for a moment, then wash them well.
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.
Serve the salmon hot on a napkin 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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Lobster + saucetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,095 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Salmon + fishtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,078 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + fishtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,488 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Salmon + lobstertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together313 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sauce and butter 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 dish, cooking into firm, flaky flesh in the hot water.
- Plain melted butter
- Adds richness and fat that complements the mild, cooked salmon when served.
The step that matters
Cooking the salmon in fast-boiling water. Salmon cooks quickly, so overcooking in water can make the flesh dry and tough. Keeping the water at a fast boil and timing the 10 to 15 minutes carefully helps the fish cook evenly and stay moist.
“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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