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Picslsd Salmon

Salmon is boiled, then marinated in a vinegar mixture with spices and sweet oil.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,395 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Picslsd Salmon

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the salmon

  1. Boil the salmon pieces until cooked.

  2. Lay the cooked salmon on a dry cloth to cool overnight.

Make the pickling liquor

  1. In a pot, combine 2 quarts of vinegar and 1 quart of the fish boiling liquor.

  2. Add black pepper, allspice, and mace to the pot; bring the mixture to a boil.

  3. Allow the vinegar mixture to cool.

Pickle and serve

  1. Pour the cooled vinegar mixture over the salmon in a deep dish.

  2. Drizzle a little sweet oil on top to help preserve it for up to a year.

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 + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + macetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Salmon + fishtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,078 recipes

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

  4. Vinegar + allspicetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  5. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Vinegar
Provides acidity that sharpens the flavour and helps preserve the fish.
Salmon
Is the main protein, firmed by boiling and then softened and flavoured by the pickling liquid.
Black pepper
Adds a sharp, warm aroma and flavour to the pickling liquid.
Allspice
Adds warm, aromatic spice notes to the pickling liquid.
Mace
Adds a delicate, warm aroma to the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Let the vinegar mixture cool before pouring it over the salmon. Hot liquid would keep cooking the already cooked fish, making it soft and breaking up its texture. Cooling first keeps the pieces firm while the acidic liquid soaks in.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, vinegar, fish, pepper, allspice):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Clovefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, vinegar, fish, pepper, allspice. 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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