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Salmon Loaf

Salmon loaf is a steamed loaf of salmon mixed with butter, eggs, breadcrumbs, and herbs, served with a sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper 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. Chop the drained salmon finely.

  2. In a bowl, mix the salmon, melted butter, beaten eggs, salt, bread crumbs, parsley, and red pepper until well combined.

  3. Transfer the mixture into a well-buttered mold.

Steam and make the sauce

  1. Steam the mold for 1½ hours.

  2. For the sauce, melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan.

  3. Stir in 2 tablespoons of flour and a dash of red pepper.

  4. Gradually add the boiling milk and reserved salmon liquor, stirring until thickened.

  5. Remove from heat and stir in a beaten egg.

Serve

  1. Serve the sauce with the salmon loaf.

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

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

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the mixture and set the loaf as they cook.
Bread crumbs
Add body and soak up moisture so the loaf holds together.
Salmon
Forms the main body of the loaf and gives its flavour.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the loaf and enriches the sauce.
Flour
Thickens the sauce by absorbing the melted butter and liquid.

The step that matters

Gradually add the boiling milk. Adding hot liquid slowly to the butter and flour mixture while stirring prevents lumps, so the sauce thickens smoothly.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

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