Name: Cream Salmon
Ingredients: 1 can salmon; 1 pint bread crumbs; 1 pint milk; 2 tablespoons butter; salt to taste; pepper to taste

Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cream Salmon

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

Drain the liquid from the can of salmon and chop the salmon finely.
Grease the bottom of a small baking dish.

Layer and bake

Layer half of the bread crumbs in the dish, followed by half of the chopped salmon.
Repeat the layers until all bread crumbs and salmon are used.
In a saucepan, boil the milk, then add the butter, salt, and pepper.
Pour the milk mixture over the salmon and bread crumbs.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until the top is brown.

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.

Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,466 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Salmon + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,481 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Salmon + milktop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,577 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: Provides the main protein and flavor, forming the body of the dish.
Bread crumbs: Absorb the hot milk and give the dish a soft, set structure.
Milk: Soaks into the bread crumbs and forms a moist, custardy base as it bakes.
Butter: Adds richness and fat, contributing flavor and a tender texture.

“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.