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Salmon Loaf

A steamed loaf of salmon mixed with eggs, butter, milk, and cracker crumbs, served with peas and a ketchup‑cornstarch sauce.

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 ↓

Salmon Loaf

Ingredients

Directions

Make the loaf

  1. In a bowl, mix the salmon, beaten eggs, butter, milk, cracker crumbs, salt, and pepper until smooth.

  2. Transfer the mixture into a mold and steam for one hour.

Prepare the peas and sauce

  1. While the salmon is cooking, place the drained peas in a small tin pan on top of the steamer.

  2. Season the peas with salt, pepper, and butter.

  3. In a saucepan, combine 1 cup of milk with cornstarch, butter, catsup, salt, and cayenne. Bring to a boil for one minute.

Serve

  1. Serve the salmon on a dish, surround it with peas, and pour the sauce over everything. Garnish with parsley.

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

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

  3. Salmon + peastop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together375 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Peas + parsleytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,885 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Pepper + peastop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,331 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 loaf and provides the flavour and protein base.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set when steamed, holding the loaf together.
Cracker crumbs
Absorb liquid and give the loaf body and structure.
Milk
Adds moisture to the loaf and forms the base of the sauce.
Cornstarch
Thickens the sauce as it boils, giving it a smooth, coating texture.

The step that matters

Bringing the sauce to a boil. Cornstarch only thickens fully once the liquid reaches a boil. Stopping early leaves a thin, starchy sauce, while the milk can scorch if left unstirred in the pan.

Swap the peas

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

  1. Peasthe original
  2. Walnutfits about as well
  3. Beansfits less well
  4. Chickpeafits less well

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