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Scalloped Salmon and Shrimps

A baked salmon and shrimp dish flavored with anchovies, tomato purée, and herbs, topped with butter and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Scalloped Salmon and Shrimps

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.

Prepare the mixture

  1. Fillet the anchovies and place them in a mortar with the salmon.

  2. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg, parsley, and tomato purée; pound and mix well.

  3. Gently mix in the shrimps without pounding.

Bake and serve

  1. Transfer the mixture into a baking dish.

  2. Top with butter and bread crumbs.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden and heated through.

  4. Serve with salad and toast.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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 and gives it a soft, flaky texture.
Shrimps
Add delicate sweetness and texture, folded in gently so they stay intact.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the topping brown golden in the oven.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden topping that contrasts with the soft filling.
Anchovies
Add savoury depth and saltiness that blends into the fish.

The step that matters

Gently mix in the shrimps without pounding. Pounding breaks down the shrimp's delicate flesh, making it mushy and dense, so folding them in by hand keeps their texture distinct from the smooth salmon base.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, pepper, parsley, tomato, butter, bread, fish. 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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