Skip to main content
Main

Salmon Cutlets

Salmon cutlets are pan‑fried fish patties coated in cracker crumbs, served with tartare sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Salmon Cutlets

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Open the can of salmon a few hours before use and flake the fish with a fork; keep on ice.

  2. Fry a slice of onion in butter for 1 minute, then remove the onion.

  3. Stir in flour and cook to a smooth paste.

  4. Slowly add cream, stirring until thick and smooth.

  5. Beat in the flaked salmon and season with salt, paprika, lemon juice, nutmeg, and parsley.

  6. Heat the mixture through, then remove from heat and stir in the beaten egg yolks.

  7. Return to heat for 1 minute, then remove and cool on ice until stiff.

Coat and fry

  1. Form into cutlets, dip in cracker crumbs, then in beaten egg, and again in cracker crumbs.

  2. Set on ice for 2 hours before frying in deep boiling lard until golden brown.

  3. Serve with sauce tartare.

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

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

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

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

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  5. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon
Forms the main body and flavour of the cutlets.
Butter
Adds richness and flavour to the base before the flour is added.
Flour
Thickens the butter and cream into a smooth paste that holds the mixture together.
Cream
Makes a thick, smooth sauce base that sets firm when chilled.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set when heated, helping the cutlets hold their shape.
Cracker crumbs
Form a crisp, golden outer coating during frying.

The step that matters

Chilling until stiff. The mixture must be cooled on ice until firm before shaping. If it is still soft, the cutlets will not hold their form and may break or leak when dipped and fried.

“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 cutlets recipes

with Caper Sauce 4 See all 49 →

You might also like

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