Name: Salmon Loaf
Ingredients: 1 can of salmon; 1 large cup of cracker crumbs; Juice of 1 lemon; ½ cup of hot water; 2 tablespoons of melted butter; Pepper to taste; Coarse sea salt to taste; 2 eggs, well beaten

Why it works: Lemon and pepper 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

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Remove skin and bones from the salmon and flake it fine with a fork.
In a bowl, combine the salmon, cracker crumbs, lemon juice, hot water, melted butter, pepper, salt, and beaten eggs. Mix well and pack the mixture into a buttered tin.

Bake and serve

Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 20 minutes.
Let cool, then turn out and slice.

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.

Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Salmon + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,481 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,227 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Salmon + eggtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,485 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 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 mixture so the loaf holds its shape when sliced.
Cracker crumbs: Absorb moisture and add body, giving the loaf structure and a soft texture.
Salmon: Forms the main body of the loaf and provides its flavour.
Melted butter: Adds fat for richness and a tender texture.

“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.