Why it works: Salmon and sugar work together. They rank in the top 35% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 931 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Salmon to Dry
Ingredients
Directions
Cure
Cut the salmon down, remove the roe, and rub the entire fish with common salt.
Hang the salmon for 24 hours to drain.
Pound together saltpetre, coarse sea salt, and sugar; rub this mixture into the salmon.
Place the salmon on a large dish for 2 days, then rub with common salt.
After 24 hours, drain and wipe the salmon dry.
Smoke
Stretch the salmon open and secure it with sticks to ensure even drying.
Hang it in a chimney corner where wood or peat is burned to smoke for 5 days.
Broil and serve
Broil slices for breakfast.
If too dry or smoked, soak in lukewarm water before broiling.
Dip the slices in oil and season with herbs and spices before broiling.
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 + sugartop 35% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together931 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Saltpetre
- Cures the fish and helps it keep its pink colour during curing and smoking.
- Common salt
- Draws out moisture and seasons the fish, slowing spoilage during curing.
- Sugar
- Balances the salt and adds a mild sweetness to the cured flesh.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws out moisture and firms the flesh during the cure.
The step that matters
Drying the salmon before smoking. Salmon left wet after draining will smoke unevenly and may spoil. Wiping it dry and stretching it open lets air reach the flesh so it dries evenly and forms a good surface for smoke.
“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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