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Salmon Loaf

A steamed loaf of salmon mixed with butter, cracker crumbs, milk, lemon, parsley, eggs, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Salmon Loaf

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. In a bowl, rub the butter into the cracker crumbs until smooth.

  2. Add the milk, lemon juice, parsley, salt, and cayenne, then mix in the salmon.

  3. Beat the eggs separately, then fold the yolks and whites into the mixture.

Steam and serve

  1. Butter a mold and sprinkle it with cracker crumbs.

  2. Pour the salmon mixture into the mold and steam for 1 hour.

  3. Turn the loaf onto a warm serving dish and serve with cream sauce, adding the salmon liquor.

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. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

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

  4. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  5. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Beaten eggs bind the salmon mixture and help it set into a firm loaf.
Cracker crumbs
Crumbs absorb the milk and add body, giving the loaf structure and a soft texture.
Milk
Milk moistens the crumbs and keeps the loaf tender during steaming.
Butter
Butter rubbed into the crumbs adds richness and fat for a tender texture.
Salmon
Flaked salmon forms the main body and flavour of the loaf.

The step that matters

Folding the beaten eggs into the mixture. Beaten eggs add air and set when heated. Folding gently keeps the mixture light, while overmixing can deflate it and make the loaf dense.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Dillfits about as well
  3. Nutmegfits less well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

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