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Marinated Salmon

A salmon fillet marinated with spices, wine, and sugar, then pickled and stored in olive oil.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and laurel are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,516 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Marinated Salmon

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the salmon

  1. Scale the salmon, remove the fins, and split it open at the back.

  2. Reserve the roe and liver.

  3. Wipe the fish clean.

  4. Cover the red side with moist sugar and let it sit overnight.

  5. Remove the backbone.

Cure and bake

  1. Mix the powdered bay leaf, mace, cloves, white pepper, and table salt.

  2. Rub the fish on both sides with the spice mixture and remaining sugar.

  3. Place laurel leaves on the red side and fold the thin side over.

  4. Refrigerate for 24 hours.

  5. After 24 hours, wipe the fish dry.

  6. Cut the fish into pieces and place them in a deep dish.

  7. Add the wine and cover with double paper.

  8. Bake in a slow oven (300°F/150°C) until done.

  9. Pour off the warm pickle.

  10. Let the fish drip on a sieve, covered with a cloth, until the next day.

Jar and store

  1. In jars, place the fish with the red side down and cover with olive oil.

  2. Replenish the oil daily for three days.

  3. Cover the jars with a wet bladder.

  4. Store in a cool, dry 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. Clove + laureltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Mace + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Mace + white peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,695 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  4. Clove + olivetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,866 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Laurel + olivetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,983 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-hex-3-en-1-ol (freshly cut grass green and herbaceous notes).

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon
Forms the body of the dish, firming as it cures and bakes.
Table salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the fish, helping preserve it during curing.
Moist sugar
Balances the salt and adds sweetness while helping the cure penetrate.
Rhenish wine or cape madeira
Adds acidity and flavour to the pickle that the fish absorbs.
Genuine olive oil
Seals the fish in jars, limiting contact with air and slowing spoilage.

The step that matters

Baking in the slow oven. Baking at a low 300°F/150°C cooks the fish gently so it becomes done without drying out or breaking apart. Too high a heat would toughen the flesh and drive off moisture before the fish is properly cured.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, sugar, mace, clove, laurel, wine, olive):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, sugar, mace, clove, laurel, wine, olive. 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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