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Salmon Loaf

A steamed loaf made from canned salmon, butter, breadcrumbs, milk, eggs, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and lemon 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

Prepare

  1. Preheat a steamer.

  2. In a bowl, combine the salmon, butter, bread crumbs, milk, salt, pepper, and lemon juice.

  3. Add the beaten eggs and mix well.

Steam and serve

  1. Transfer the mixture to a well-buttered quart mold and cover.

  2. Steam for 1 hour.

  3. Serve with a good fish sauce.

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

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

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Butter + milktop 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. Bread + eggtop 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 mixture so the loaf holds its shape when set by heat.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and add body, giving the loaf a tender rather than dense texture.
Milk
Adds moisture, keeping the loaf soft as the eggs set.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and keeps the loaf from sticking to the mold.

The step that matters

Steam for 1 hour. Steam heat must set the egg-bound mixture gently. Too much heat or time can overcook the eggs, making the loaf dry and rubbery, so keep the steamer at a steady simmer.

“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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