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Salmon Loaf

A baked loaf made from flaked salmon, eggs, bread crumbs, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. 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

  1. Flake the salmon and remove skin and bones, leaving 2 tablespoons of oil.

  2. Soak the bread crumbs in the milk mixed with the beaten eggs.

Shape and bake

  1. Add all remaining ingredients and mix well to form a loaf.

  2. Lightly dredge with flour.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until well browned.

  4. Pour the mixture into a buttered mold.

  5. Steam for 1 hour if desired.

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 + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

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

  5. Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon
Forms the main body and flavor of the loaf.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set when heated, holding the loaf together.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and add body, keeping the loaf tender rather than dense.
Milk
Moistens the bread crumbs and adds moisture to the finished loaf.
Oil
Adds fat for moisture and a softer texture.

The step that matters

Soaking the bread crumbs in the milk and egg mixture. Stale soft crumbs need to absorb the liquid fully before mixing. Evenly soaked crumbs keep the loaf moist and bound, while dry crumbs leave pockets and make it crumbly.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

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