Skip to main content
Main

Salmon Loaf

A baked loaf made from canned salmon, crackers, eggs, butter, and milk, topped with a lemon‑parsley dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. 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.

Bake the loaf

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Mix together the salmon, rolled crackers, eggs, and melted butter until well combined.

  3. Transfer the mixture to a deep greased pan.

  4. Place the pan in a larger pan filled with water and bake for 1 hour.

Make the sauce

  1. Dissolve cornstarch in milk.

  2. Boil the mixture.

  3. Stir until it thickens.

  4. Stir in the oil from the salmon and 1 egg.

  5. Remove from heat and add lemon juice and chopped parsley.

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 + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

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

  3. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon
Forms the body of the loaf and gives it its flaked texture.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set as it bakes, holding the loaf together.
Rolled crackers
Absorb moisture and add bulk, keeping the loaf from becoming dense.
Cornstarch
Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce once heated.
Milk
Forms the base of the sauce and adds moisture and richness.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich salmon and sauce.

The step that matters

Thicken the sauce by boiling and stirring. Cornstarch only thickens once the milk mixture reaches a boil. Stirring keeps the starch evenly dispersed, which prevents lumps and scorching. As the mixture heats, the starch granules swell and thicken the liquid into a smooth sauce.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Dillfits about as well
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Capersfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, egg, butter, milk, lemon. 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.

More salmon loaf recipes

Sauce 5Steamed 4 See all 140 →

You might also like

Lemon SauceLemon Sauce236 recipesSalmon SaladSalmon Salad155 recipesSalmon CroquettesSalmon Croquettes129 recipesCanned SalmonCanned Salmon14 recipes