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Salmon Mould

A steamed salmon dish made with bread crumbs, butter, parsley, anchovy sauce, and eggs, served in a mold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Salmon Mould

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Break the salmon into fine pieces in a basin using a fork.

  2. Add bread crumbs, butter, parsley, salt, pepper, cayenne, anchovy sauce, and eggs. Mix until smooth and well combined.

Steam and serve

  1. Transfer the mixture to a buttered mold.

  2. Steam for 45 minutes.

  3. Turn out onto a serving plate.

  4. Pour melted butter flavored with anchovy sauce around the salmon mold.

  5. Garnish with 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. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Bread + anchovytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,260 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

  5. Salmon + anchovytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together535 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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 mould and gives it its flaky, savoury bulk.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set when steamed, holding the mould together.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and soften the texture, keeping the mould tender rather than dense.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, so the mould stays soft and not dry.

The step that matters

Mixing until smooth and well combined. If the salmon and egg are unevenly mixed, pockets of egg will set differently from the fish, giving a patchy, crumbly texture after steaming. Thorough mixing spreads the binder evenly so the mould holds together when turned out.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Nutmegfits less well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

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