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Philadelphia, Pa

A steamed pudding made with preserved salmon, eggs, butter, breadcrumbs, and a lemon‑caper sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Philadelphia, Pa

Ingredients

Directions

Make the pudding

  1. Mince the preserved salmon and drain off all the liquor for sauce.

  2. Rub in the melted butter, work in the breadcrumbs, add the seasoning, and finally add the beaten eggs.

  3. Put the mixture in a buttered pudding mould and set it in a dripping pan full of hot water, keeping the water at a fast boil and refilling as it evaporates.

  4. Cook for one hour.

  5. Set the mould in cold water a moment after removing it from the oven.

Make the sauce

  1. Heat one cupful of milk to a boil and thicken with a tablespoon of corn starch.

  2. Add one lightly beaten egg, stir in the liquor from the fish and one large spoon of butter.

  3. Season and let it cook for three minutes in hot water, then add the juice of a lemon and some capers.

Serve

  1. Cut the pudding into slices.

  2. Serve on a platter with the following sauce.

  3. Pour the sauce over the pudding mould and serve.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

784Calories
27 gProtein
26 gFat
108 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Jacqueline Harrison Smith (ed.). Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  4. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the mixture and help the pudding set as it cooks.
Bread crumbs
Add body to the mixture and absorb the melted butter for a soft texture.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to both the pudding and the sauce.
Milk
Forms the base of the sauce, which thickens as it heats.
Corn starch
Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce as it heats.

The step that matters

Keep the water bath at a fast boil. Water that drops in temperature or runs low lets the pudding cook unevenly and set too slowly. Refilling with hot water keeps the heat steady around the mould.

“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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