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Salmon Loaf

Salmon loaf is a baked dish of salmon, eggs, breadcrumbs, and seasonings, topped with a thickened milk dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 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

Make the loaf

  1. Combine salmon and melted butter in an earthen dish, mixing until smooth.

  2. Beat the eggs lightly.

  3. Mix the beaten eggs with bread crumbs, salt, and red pepper.

  4. Combine the egg mixture with the salmon paste.

  5. Steam the mixture for 1 hour.

Make the dressing and serve

  1. Bring milk to a boil.

  2. Add corn starch to the boiling milk and stir until thickened.

  3. Add butter, salt, mace, and a sprinkle of red pepper to the thickened milk.

  4. Mix in a beaten egg.

  5. Cook the mixture for 1 minute.

  6. Stir in the salmon liquor and Worcestershire sauce.

  7. Pour the dressing over the salmon loaf.

  8. Serve hot.

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

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

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

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

  4. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  5. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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 flavour and texture.
Eggs
Bind the loaf and set when steamed, holding its shape.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and add bulk, giving the loaf a softer, tender texture.
Milk
Forms the base of the dressing, providing a smooth, creamy sauce.
Corn starch
Thickens the boiled milk into a smooth, pourable dressing.

The step that matters

Add corn starch to the boiling milk and stir until thickened. Cornstarch must be stirred into boiling liquid so its starch granules swell and gelatinize evenly. Adding it to cool milk or stopping the stirring early can leave the sauce lumpy or thin.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Nutmegfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Cinnamonfits about as well
  4. Dillfits less well

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