Name: Salmon Pudding, to Be Served Hot or Cold
Ingredients: 1 pound cold cooked salmon, boned and skinned; ½ pound fine bread crumbs; 1 teaspoon essence of anchovies; ¼ pint (½ cup) cream; 4 eggs, well whisked; fine salt, to taste; cayenne pepper, to taste

Why it works: Bread and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 22,662 recipes. Both carry (e)-2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Salmon Pudding, to Be Served Hot or Cold

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

1 pound cold cooked salmon, boned and skinned
½ pound fine bread crumbs
1 teaspoon essence of anchovies
¼ pint (½ cup) cream
4 eggs, well whisked
fine salt, to taste
cayenne pepper, to taste

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the mixture

Pound or chop the salmon finely, or rub it through a sieve.
Blend the salmon with the bread crumbs, essence of anchovies, cream, salt, and cayenne.
Add the whisked eggs and mix thoroughly.

Bake

Press the mixture evenly into a deep dish or mold.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 1 hour.

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.

Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Salmon + creamtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,401 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Salmon + eggtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,485 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,964 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Salmon + breadtop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together941 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

Salmon: Forms the main body and flavor of the pudding.
Bread crumbs: Absorb liquid and give the pudding a soft, sliceable body.
Eggs: Bind the mixture and set it firm as it bakes.
Cream: Adds moisture and richness, keeping the pudding tender.
Essence of anchovies: Adds a salty, savory depth that enhances the fish flavor.

The step that matters

Mixing in the eggs. Eggs must be thoroughly mixed so they distribute evenly; uneven mixing leaves pockets of unset egg or dense patches as the proteins coagulate in the oven.

“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.

Brown Bread461 recipes

Salmon Salad155 recipes

Salmon Croquettes129 recipes

White Bread80 recipes

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Salmon Pudding, to Be Served Hot or Cold