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Salmon Loaf with Lemon Dressing

A baked salmon loaf served with a lemon‑flavored butter custard dressing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Salmon Loaf with Lemon Dressing

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the loaf

  1. Drain the liquid from the can of salmon.

  2. Mince the salmon.

  3. Mix the salmon with melted butter, cracker crumbs, black pepper, salt, and eggs.

  4. Transfer the mixture to a buttered mold.

Bake and unmold

  1. Place the mold in a pan of hot water.

  2. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 1 hour.

  3. Replenish the water as it evaporates.

  4. Once done, set the mold in cold water to loosen.

  5. Turn the loaf out onto a serving platter.

Make the lemon dressing

  1. Heat the milk in a double boiler.

  2. Moisten the cornstarch with cold water.

  3. Add the moistened cornstarch to the hot milk.

  4. Stir in the butter, salt, and the liquid from the salmon.

  5. Cook until it reaches a custard-like consistency.

  6. Remove from heat.

  7. Let it stand in the double boiler until the loaf is ready.

  8. Add lemon juice.

  9. Pour the dressing around the 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. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

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

  3. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

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

  5. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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 provides its flavour and texture.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set when baked, holding the loaf together.
Cracker crumbs
Absorb moisture and add bulk so the loaf holds its shape.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the loaf.
Milk
Forms the base of the dressing, giving it a smooth, creamy body.
Cornstarch
Thickens the hot milk into a custard-like dressing.

The step that matters

Cook the dressing until custard-like. Cornstarch must be fully heated in the milk to swell and thicken; if it is under-cooked the dressing stays thin and floury, and over-heating can cause it to lump or scorch in the double boiler.

“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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