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Salmon Loaf

A steamed loaf made from chopped salmon, bread crumbs, eggs, butter, and seasonings, garnished with hard‑boiled eggs and green peas.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 Loaf

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the loaf

  1. In a bowl, combine the chopped salmon, bread crumbs, melted butter, and seasonings.

  2. Add the egg yolks and mix well.

  3. Fold in the beaten egg whites gently.

  4. Transfer the mixture to a greased loaf pan.

Steam and serve

  1. Steam for 1.5 hours.

  2. Garnish with hard-boiled eggs and green peas before serving.

  3. Serve with a rich butter 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 + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  3. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

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

  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
Egg whites folded in add lightness, while yolks bind the loaf together.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and give the loaf body so it holds its shape.
Salmon
Forms the main body of the loaf and supplies its flavour.
Melted butter
Adds richness and moisture to keep the loaf tender.

The step that matters

Folding in the beaten egg whites. Beaten whites trap air that gives the loaf its lift. Stirring them in vigorously would deflate that foam, so fold gently with a spatula until just combined.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Capersfits about as well
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Dillfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, bread, egg, butter, 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.

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