Skip to main content
Main

Salmon Loaf

Salmon loaf is a steamed loaf of canned salmon mixed with egg, lemon, crackers, and served with a buttered milk gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Lemon and pepper 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 the loaf

  1. In a bowl, combine the salmon, egg, lemon juice, and cracker crumbs.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a mold and steam for 1 hour.

Make the gravy

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add the sweet milk, pepper, and salt to make the gravy.

Serve

  1. Turn the loaf onto a platter and pour the gravy around it.

  2. Grate the hard‑boiled egg on top of the loaf.

  3. Serve hot with buttered crackers and a sprinkle of nutmeg.

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

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

  2. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

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

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  5. Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 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

Salmon
Forms the body of the loaf and gives it its main flavor and texture.
Egg
Binds the salmon and cracker crumbs so the loaf holds together when set.
Cracker crumbs
Absorb moisture and add bulk, giving the loaf a softer, cohesive texture.
Sweet milk
Forms the base of the gravy, adding moisture and a smooth, creamy body.
Butter
Adds richness and fat to the gravy, carrying flavor and smoothing its texture.

The step that matters

Steaming the loaf for 1 hour. Gentle, steady steam cooks the egg-bound mixture until just set. Too little heat leaves it loose and crumbly, while overcooking can make it dry and rubbery.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, egg, lemon, butter, milk, pepper):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Dillfits about as well
  3. Nutmegthe original
  4. Tarragonfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, egg, lemon, butter, milk, pepper. 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 loaf recipes

Sauce 5Steamed 4 See all 140 →

You might also like

Lemon SauceLemon Sauce236 recipesSalmon SaladSalmon Salad155 recipesSalmon CroquettesSalmon Croquettes129 recipesCanned SalmonCanned Salmon14 recipes