Name: Cold Salmon Loaf
Ingredients: 1 tin of salmon; 2 cups of cracker crumbs; 1 egg; 1 cup of milk; 2 tablespoons of butter; pepper to taste; coarse sea salt to taste

Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Cold Salmon Loaf

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Remove bones and skin from the salmon and place it in a bowl.
Add cracker crumbs, egg, milk, butter, pepper, and salt. Mix well.

Cook and serve

Transfer the mixture to a loaf pan.
Steam for 1 hour.
Let it cool and serve cold with mayonnaise dressing.

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Salmon + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,481 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Salmon + eggtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,485 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Salmon + milktop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,577 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg: Binds the salmon and crumbs together so the loaf holds its shape when sliced.
Cracker crumbs: Absorb liquid and give the loaf body, holding the salmon in place.
Milk: Adds moisture so the loaf stays tender rather than dry.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and a softer texture.

“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.