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Molded Salmon

A steamed salmon mixture formed into a mold, seasoned with eggs, breadcrumbs, lemon, parsley, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Lemon and parsley 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 ↓

Molded Salmon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the salmon

  1. Turn out the can of salmon and remove the skin and bones.

  2. Beat the eggs and add them to the salmon.

  3. Mix in the bread crumbs, lemon juice, chopped parsley, salt, and pepper.

Steam

  1. Pack the mixture into a well-buttered mold.

  2. Steam for 2 hours.

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 + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  5. Bread + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,588 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 and bread crumbs so the cakes hold together when set by heat.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and add body, giving the cakes a tender rather than dense texture.
Salmon
Provides the main protein and flavor, setting firm as it cooks.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor of the rich fish.

The step that matters

Packing the mold. Packing the mixture firmly and evenly into a well-buttered mold helps the cakes hold their shape and release cleanly, while buttering prevents sticking as the egg sets.

“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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