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Deviled Salmon

Deviled Salmon is a dish of flaked salmon mixed with butter, mustard, eggs, and crackers, baked in scallop shells.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,430 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Deviled Salmon

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Roll the soda crackers very fine and divide into two equal parts.

  2. Remove bones from the salmon and place it in a pan with its juices.

  3. Boil the eggs hard and pass them through a sieve.

Make the filling

  1. In a bowl, combine the butter, mustard, eggs, salmon, half the crackers, pepper, and salt, mixing lightly with your hands.

  2. Melt the mixture on the stove, stirring lightly.

Bake and serve

  1. Transfer the mixture into scallop shells, topping with the remaining cracker crumbs and bits of butter.

  2. Place the scallops in a dripping pan and brown for a few minutes in a 400°F (200°C) oven.

  3. Serve as a fish course.

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. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  2. Salmon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  3. Salmon + eggtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,485 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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 filling and provides the flavour of the dish.
Eggs
Bind the mixture together and add richness and body to the filling.
Soda crackers
Absorb moisture and give the filling structure, with crumbs on top for browning.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, keeping the filling moist and helping the top brown.

The step that matters

Melting the mixture on the stove. Heating the mixture gently while stirring helps the eggs and fats combine into a smooth, cohesive filling without scorching. Overheating can make the eggs curdle or dry out the salmon.

Swap the mustard

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

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Mustardthe original

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