Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Salmon Loaf
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mixture
In a bowl, mix the melted butter and salmon until smooth.
Beat the eggs lightly and add them to the salmon mixture along with the bread crumbs, salt, and pepper. Thoroughly mix all ingredients together.
Steam
Transfer the mixture to a buttered mold and steam for 1 hour.
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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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Salmon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,481 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Salmon + eggtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,485 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 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
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and help it set into a firm loaf as they cook.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb moisture and add body so the loaf holds together and stays tender.
- Canned salmon
- Provides the main protein and flavor of the loaf.
- Melted butter
- Adds richness and moisture, keeping the loaf from drying out.
The step that matters
Transfer the mixture to a buttered mold and steam for 1 hour.. Gentle steaming cooks the egg-bound mixture evenly and sets it without drying. Buttering the mold keeps the loaf from sticking when it is turned out.
“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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