Why it works: Milk and butter 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 Pudding
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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cook the salmon in milk until tender.
Remove the salmon, flake it, and mix with breadcrumbs, beaten eggs, melted butter, salt, and pepper.
Pour the mixture into a greased baking dish.
Bake
Bake for 30-40 minutes until set and golden on top.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Salmon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,481 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Salmon + eggtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,485 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Salmon + milktop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,577 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 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
- Salmon
- Forms the body of the pudding and provides its flavor and flaky texture.
- Eggs
- Bind the flaked salmon and breadcrumbs and set during baking to hold the pudding together.
- Breadcrumbs
- Absorb the milk and add body so the mixture holds its shape.
- Milk
- Softens the salmon as it cooks and adds moisture to the custard-like mixture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the top brown during baking.
The step that matters
Bake until set. Eggs set as their proteins coagulate with heat. Pulling the pudding too early leaves it loose and wet in the center, while overbaking makes it dry and rubbery.
“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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