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Pickled Salmon

Pickled salmon preserved in a vinegar and spice brine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Pickled Salmon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the salmon

  1. Clean the salmon and cut it into large pieces.

  2. Boil the salmon in salted water until cooked, then drain it.

  3. Wrap the salmon in a dry cloth and refrigerate until the next day.

Make the pickling liquor

  1. In a kettle, combine the water from boiling the salmon, vinegar, black pepper, nutmeg, and mace.

  2. Boil the mixture covered to retain flavor, then let it cool completely.

Pickle and store

  1. Pour the cooled vinegar mixture over the salmon.

  2. Add sweet oil on top to help preserve it.

  3. Cover the salmon tightly and store in a dry, cool place.

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. Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,257 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Vinegar + macetop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,415 recipes

Pepper and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon
Is the main protein that is cooked, then preserved in the vinegar mixture.
Vinegar
Acidity that preserves the salmon and gives it a sharp, tangy flavor.
Black pepper
Adds a sharp, aromatic heat that flavors the pickling liquor.
Mace
Adds a warm, aromatic flavor to the pickling liquor.
Nutmeg
Adds a warm, sweet aroma to the pickling liquor.
Sweet oil
Forms a layer on top that helps keep the salmon from contact with air.

The step that matters

Cooling the vinegar mixture before pouring it over the salmon. Pouring hot liquid over cooked fish would partly cook it again and soften its texture. Letting the mixture cool completely keeps the salmon firm while it steeps in the acidic brine.

Swap the mace

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

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

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