Why it works: Salmon and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 27% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,675 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓
Pickled Salmon
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the salmon
Soak the salmon in water for 24 hours, changing the water occasionally.
Put the salmon in boiling water with a little vinegar until cooked.
Pickle
Once cooked and cooled, boil vinegar with spices.
Pour the spiced vinegar over the fish.
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.
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Salmon + vinegartop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,675 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Salmon
- The main protein; cooking firms its flesh, and the pickling liquid flavours it.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and helps preserve the fish.
- Spices
- Add aroma and flavour to the pickling vinegar.
The step that matters
Cooking the salmon until just cooked. Salmon becomes dry and tough when overcooked, because heat squeezes moisture out of the muscle fibres. Stop once the flesh turns opaque and flakes easily, then let it cool before pickling.
“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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