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Salmon Loaf

A steamed loaf of salmon mixed with cracker crumbs, lemon, butter, eggs, and Worcestershire sauce, served with milk gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Salmon Loaf

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Preheat a steamer.

  2. In a bowl, mix the salmon, cracker crumbs, lemon rind, lemon juice, melted butter, beaten eggs, salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce until well combined.

  3. Transfer the mixture to a buttered mold.

Steam and serve

  1. Steam for 1 hour.

  2. Turn the loaf out onto a platter.

  3. Pour rich milk gravy around the base.

  4. Garnish with parsley and rings of cold boiled egg whites.

  5. Grate the yolks over the top or use a fruit press to squeeze them on.

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

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

  2. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

  4. Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon
Forms the bulk of the loaf and provides its main flavor and texture.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set firm when steamed.
Cracker crumbs
Absorb liquid and give the loaf body so it holds its shape.
Melted butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender, moist texture.

The step that matters

Steam for 1 hour. Steaming gently sets the egg proteins so the loaf firms up without drying out. Too little time leaves it loose and fragile, while overcooking can make it dense and rubbery.

“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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