Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Salmon Loaf
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the loaf
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix the salmon, beaten eggs, melted butter, cracker crumbs, salt, and pepper until smooth.
Transfer the mixture into a buttered mold and steam for 1½ hours.
Make the sauce and serve
Once done, turn the salmon loaf onto a platter and surround it with boiled peas.
For the sauce, heat the milk in a saucepan.
Stir in the corn starch mixed with a little milk, along with the butter, salt, and pepper.
Cook until the sauce is smooth and creamy, then pour it over the salmon loaf.
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.
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Salmon + peastop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together375 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Pepper + corntop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,324 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Corn + peastop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together420 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the salmon and set during cooking to give the loaf its structure.
- Cracker crumbs
- Absorb liquid and add body so the loaf holds together and stays moist.
- Salmon
- Forms the main body of the loaf and provides its flavour and texture.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the milk into a smooth, creamy sauce as it heats.
- Milk
- Forms the base of the sauce, adding richness and creaminess.
The step that matters
Cook the cornstarch sauce until smooth and creamy. Cornstarch must be fully heated in the liquid to swell and thicken it. If it is under-cooked, the sauce stays thin and can taste starchy; stirring keeps lumps from forming.
Swap the peas
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, egg, butter, pepper, milk, corn):
- Peasthe original
- Beansfits about as well
- Walnutfits about as well
- Lima beansfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, egg, butter, pepper, milk, corn. 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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