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Salmon Loaf

A steamed loaf made from canned salmon, eggs, butter, crackers, and served with peas cooked in cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Salmon Loaf

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Preheat a steamer.

  2. In a bowl, combine the salmon, beaten eggs, butter, and crushed crackers.

  3. Shape the mixture into a loaf.

Steam and serve

  1. Steam the loaf for 1 hour.

  2. Cook the peas in cream.

  3. Pour the cream peas over the loaf to serve.

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

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

  2. Salmon + peastop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together375 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Salmon + creamtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,401 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Salmon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  5. Salmon + eggtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,485 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

Eggs
Bind the salmon mixture so the loaf holds its shape when sliced.
Salmon
Forms the main body of the loaf and provides its flavor.
Crackers
Absorb moisture and add bulk, giving the loaf a softer, more tender texture.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the salmon mixture.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth texture to the peas served on top.

The step that matters

Steam the loaf for 1 hour. Gentle steam heats the egg-bound mixture evenly, setting the proteins into a firm loaf without drying it out. Too little steam or heat can leave the center underset and crumbly.

Swap the peas

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

  1. Pecansfits about as well
  2. Peasthe original
  3. Almondfits about as well
  4. Walnutfits about as well

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