Skip to main content
Main

Salmon Cakes. No. I.

Salmon cakes made with canned salmon, eggs, flour, onions, tomatoes, and seasonings, pan‑fried until browned.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 Cakes. No. I.

Ingredients

Directions

Make the tomato base

  1. Heat the butter in a frying pan over medium heat.

  2. Add the chopped onion and cook until light brown.

  3. Stir in the tomatoes and cook lightly.

Form and cook the cakes

  1. In a bowl, mash the salmon and mix in the eggs, flour, salt, pepper, and parsley.

  2. Combine the salmon mixture with the tomatoes.

  3. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into very hot butter in the frying pan.

  4. Cook until browned on both sides.

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. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  3. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

  4. Tomato + parsleytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,398 recipes

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

  5. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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 cakes hold together when cooked.
Flour
Absorbs moisture and helps the cakes hold their shape while frying.
Salmon
Forms the main body of the cakes and provides the savory flavor.
Onion
Adds aroma and sweetness as it browns in the butter.
Tomatoes
Contribute moisture and acidity to the salmon mixture.

The step that matters

Drop spoonfuls into very hot butter. If the butter is not hot enough, the cakes absorb fat and turn greasy and pale instead of browning. Hot fat sets the outside quickly, helping the cakes keep their shape and develop a golden crust.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, onion, salmon, egg, flour, pepper, parsley):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, onion, salmon, egg, flour, pepper, parsley. 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.

More salmon cakes recipes

Steamed 3 See all 8 →

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesSalmon SaladSalmon Salad155 recipesSalmon CroquettesSalmon Croquettes129 recipesCream of Tomato SoupCream of Tomato Soup107 recipes