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Salmon in a Mold

A steamed salmon dish mixed with eggs, butter, breadcrumbs, and seasonings, baked in a mold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley 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 in a Mold

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the salmon finely.

  2. Mix the melted butter with the bread crumbs.

  3. Add the beaten eggs, salt, pepper, and minced parsley to the mixture.

  4. Combine this mixture with the chopped salmon.

Steam and serve

  1. Transfer the mixture to a buttered mold.

  2. Steam for 1 hour.

  3. Serve with Hollandaise sauce.

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 + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Bread + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,588 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the mixture and set into a firm, sliceable custard-like texture when steamed.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the butter and egg, giving body and a tender crumb to the mold.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, and helps keep the mixture tender as it cooks.
Salmon
Provides the main flavor and protein that the binding ingredients hold together.

The step that matters

Steam for 1 hour. Steaming gently sets the egg slowly; too much heat or boiling water can make the mold rubbery, pocked, or watery. Keep the water at a gentle simmer.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Capersfits about as well
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

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