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Spiced Salmon

A salmon fillet pickled in a spiced vinegar solution.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Spiced Salmon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Boil the salmon and let it cool after wiping it dry.

Make the pickle

  1. Combine the water from boiling the salmon and vinegar in equal parts to cover the fish.

  2. Add cloves, mace or nutmeg, whole pepper, and allspice to the mixture.

  3. Heat the mixture until boiling, then skim it clear.

  4. Stir in the butter until melted, then pour it over the fish.

Chill and serve

  1. Store the fish in a cool place until cold and ready to serve.

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 + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Mace + allspicetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon
Forms the main body of the dish, cooked first so it firms before pickling.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that sharpens flavour and helps preserve the fish in the brine.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel to the pickling liquid.
Whole pepper
Contributes aromatic warmth that infuses into the pickling liquid.
Cloves
Adds a strong aromatic spice note to the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Skim the pickling liquid while boiling. Heating the vinegar and spices until boiling and skimming off foam and scum leaves a clear liquid with a cleaner flavour, and the pickle sits better on the fish.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, vinegar, clove, pepper, allspice, butter, egg):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, vinegar, clove, pepper, allspice, butter, egg. 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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