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Salmon Pudding

A steamed savoury pudding made from boiled salmon, bread crumbs, butter, milk and egg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Salmon Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Boil bread crumbs in milk until smooth.

  2. Turn onto a plate to cool.

  3. Cream the butter in a bowl.

  4. Pound the boiled salmon into a paste.

Make the mixture

  1. Beat the egg yolks and whites for ten minutes.

  2. Mix all ingredients together well.

Shape and steam

  1. Shape into a bolster about 6 inches long.

  2. Dredge with baked flour and wrap in buttered foolscap paper.

  3. Roll in a pudding cloth and secure ends.

  4. Steam over fast-boiling water for 35 minutes.

  5. Carefully turn out and serve with parsley sauce.

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. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  4. Bread + anchovytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,260 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

  5. Salmon + anchovytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together535 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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 pudding and gives it its flavour.
Egg yolks and whites
Bind the mixture and set as it steams, giving the pudding structure.
Bread crumbs
Soak up milk to add body and a soft, moist texture.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the mixture.
Milk
Softens the bread crumbs into a smooth base and adds moisture.

The step that matters

Steam over fast-boiling water. The pudding must be kept at a steady, fast boil so it cooks through evenly and sets firm. Water that drops too low can leave the centre wet and loose.

Swap the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, milk, butter, salmon, egg, anchovy, sauce):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, milk, butter, salmon, egg, anchovy, sauce. 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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