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Broiled Salmon, and Capers

Broiled salmon served with a sauce of capers, fish stock, coulis, and anchovy essence.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Capers and anchovy work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 473 recipes. Both carry 2-methylbutyraldehyde, which smells malty, chocolate. The science ↓

Broiled Salmon, and Capers

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Cut the salmon into slices and season with salt and pepper.

  3. Place the salmon in a buttered tart pan or sauté pan.

Cook and make the sauce

  1. Bake the salmon in the oven for about 10 minutes.

  2. Remove the salmon and place it on a grill to finish cooking.

  3. Wash the capers and boil them in a little fish stock.

  4. Strain the stock, then mix in a little coulis and anchovy essence.

Serve

  1. Serve the salmon on the sauce.

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. Capers + anchovytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together473 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  2. Fish + anchovytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together637 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Salmon + anchovytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together535 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Salmon + fishtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,078 recipes

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

  5. Butter + fishtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon
Forms the main protein, which firms and turns opaque as it cooks through.
Butter
Adds richness and helps keep the salmon from sticking to the pan.
Capers
Add a sharp, briny acidity that cuts through the richness of the fish.
Fish stock
Provides a savoury liquid base for the sauce.
Coulis
Adds body and concentrated flavour to the sauce.
Anchovy essence
Adds deep savoury, umami flavour to the sauce.

The step that matters

Bake the salmon for about 10 minutes. Salmon is easily overcooked, and it continues to cook after leaving the oven. Pulling it when the flesh just turns opaque keeps it moist and tender, and the later grilling step can dry it out further if left too long.

Swap the capers

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, pepper, butter, fish, anchovy):

  1. Capersthe original
  2. Parsleyfits about as well
  3. Thymefits less well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, pepper, butter, fish, anchovy. 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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