Why it works: Lime and wasabi work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 35 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare the mixture
To make the salmon cakes, remove any bones from the salmon and chop into 5mm (1/4 inch) dice.
Combine the chopped salmon with the egg white, corn flour, lime leaves, ginger, wasabi paste and chopped parsley, and mix it well.
Cook the cakes
Heat 1 cm (1/2 inch) of oil in frying pan over medium heat, to shallow fry the cakes.
Place 2 tablespoons of the mixture into the hot oil and cook for 35-45 seconds each side, or till golden brown in colour.
Drain on kitchen towels, and keep warm in a low oven till you finish cooking up the batter.
Serve
To make the lime dipping sauce, combine all the ingredients.
Serve the dipping sauce with the warm salmon cakes.
This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Lime + wasabitop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together35 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Lime + gingertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,621 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Lime + parsleytop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together547 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Salmon + wasabitop 5% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together76 recipes
Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).
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Ginger + parsleytop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together676 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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 cakes and provides most of their flavour and texture.
- Egg white
- Binds the chopped salmon together and helps the cakes hold their shape when fried.
- Fine cornflour
- Absorbs moisture and helps the mixture bind, giving the cakes a lighter, firmer texture.
- Kaffir lime leaf
- Adds a bright citrus aroma that suits the salmon.
The step that matters
Frying the cakes. The oil must be hot enough to brown the outside quickly. If it is too cool, the cakes absorb oil and turn greasy and loose before they set in the centre.
Flavor stand-ins for the wasabi
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, egg, lime, ginger, parsley):
- Carrotbetter flavor fit
- Sweet potatobetter flavor fit
- Chivebetter flavor fit
- Wasabithe original
Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, egg, lime, ginger, parsley. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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