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 ↓
To Cure Salmon
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Draw and split open the salmon; wipe it well inside and out, but do not wash it.
Cure
Sprinkle the salmon generously with brown sugar and let it sit for 1-2 days.
Rub the salmon with a small amount of coarse sea salt and pounded saltpetre.
Once absorbed, wipe the fish and hang it in an airy place for a short time.
Smoke
Smoke the salmon slowly.
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
- Salmon
- The main ingredient, which is cured, dried and then smoked.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and draws moisture out of the fish, balancing the salt.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws water out of the flesh and firms its texture during curing.
- Saltpetre
- Helps the curing process and keeps the flesh's color during curing.
The step that matters
Curing with sugar and salt for 1-2 days. Sugar and salt draw water out of the flesh and firm it. Leaving the fish too long over-concentrates the salt and dries it out, so timing matters before hanging and smoking.
“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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