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Salmon Loaf

A chilled salmon loaf made with flaked salmon, egg yolks, gelatin, and seasonings, served on lettuce with mayonnaise.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Salmon Loaf

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Mix the flaked salmon with the pounded egg yolks, pepper, salt, mace, parsley, and capers.

  2. Set the mixture aside in a cold place.

  3. Heat the fish stock.

  4. Add the lemon juice to the stock.

  5. Pour the stock over the soaked gelatin and stir until scalding hot.

  6. Combine the stock mixture with the salmon mixture.

Mold and set

  1. Pour the combined mixture into a buttered mold lined with rings of boiled egg whites.

  2. Press the mixture gently into the mold.

  3. Cover the mold with a plate and place a weight on top.

  4. Let the loaf cool completely.

Serve

  1. Turn the firm loaf out onto a platter.

  2. Slice the loaf.

  3. Serve the slices on lettuce leaves with mayonnaise 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. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Parsley + caperstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,550 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Capers + lemontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,222 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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 loaf and provides the main flavour and texture.
Fish stock
Adds moisture and savoury flavour to the mixture.
Gelatin
Sets the loaf so it holds its shape when sliced.
Egg yolks
Bind the salmon and add richness and a smooth texture.

The step that matters

Dissolving the gelatin in hot stock. Gelatin must be fully dissolved in the stock before it is combined with the salmon. If it is undissolved or the stock is not hot enough, it will not distribute evenly, and the loaf may set in lumps or fail to firm up when cooled.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, egg, pepper, parsley, capers, fish, lemon):

  1. Dillfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Fennelfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, egg, pepper, parsley, capers, fish, lemon. 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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