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Pickled Salmon

Pickled salmon is salmon preserved in a vinegar and water brine with cloves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,386 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Pickled Salmon

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the salmon

  1. Boil the salmon until cooked and remove the bones.

Make the pickling liquid

  1. In a pot, combine 2⅔ cups water and 1⅓ cups vinegar with whole cloves, then bring to a boil.

Pickle

  1. Let the mixture cool, then pour it over the salmon in an airtight container.

  2. Ensure the liquid covers the salmon completely.

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. Vinegar + clovetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Salmon + vinegartop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Salmon + clovetop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together724 recipes

    Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon
The main protein, which firms as it cooks and then absorbs the pickling liquid's flavour.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that gives the fish its sharp, tangy pickled flavour.
Whole cloves
Adds a warm, aromatic spice flavour to the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Cover the salmon fully with the cooled liquid. Keeping every piece of salmon submerged in the acidic liquid ensures even flavour and limits exposure to air. Letting the liquid cool before pouring also avoids partly cooking the fish again.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Dillfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, vinegar. 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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