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Salmon Loaf

A baked loaf of salmon mixed with eggs, parsley, bread crumbs, and milk, topped with butter and bread crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Salmon Loaf

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the loaf

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

  2. In a bowl, mix the salmon, eggs, parsley, and bread crumbs.

  3. Add enough milk to make the mixture hold together.

  4. Form the mixture into a loaf and place it in a dripping pan lined with bread crumbs.

  5. Cover the loaf with more bread crumbs and bits of butter.

Bake and make the dressing

  1. Bake until the top is brown.

  2. Boil the salmon oil and milk for the dressing.

  3. Thicken the dressing with cornstarch.

  4. Season the dressing with salt and pepper, cooking until creamy.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Egg + breadtop 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 salmon and crumbs so the loaf holds its shape when sliced.
Bread crumbs
Add bulk and absorb moisture, giving the loaf a light, tender body.
Milk
Adds moisture to the loaf and forms the base of the creamy dressing.
Butter
Adds fat that helps the top brown richly in the oven.
Cornstarch (in the method)
Thickens the dressing as it heats, giving it a smooth, creamy body.

The step that matters

Add enough milk to make the mixture hold together. Too little liquid leaves the loaf crumbly and likely to fall apart, while too much makes it soggy and slack. Bread crumbs absorb the milk, so add it gradually until the mixture just holds its shape when formed.

Swap the parsley

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

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

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