Why it works: Vinegar and cucumber are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,734 recipes. Both carry 2-methylbutyl acetate, which smells fruit. The science ↓
Boiled Salmon
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the salmon well without removing the scales, head, or tail.
If desired, form the salmon into an 'S' shape by threading a string through the tail, center of the body, and head.
Cook and serve
Boil the salmon in salted water, allowing 10 minutes per pound plus an additional 10 minutes.
If boiling a whole fish, you may add vinegar to the water; do not add vinegar if boiling a cut.
Garnish the fish with lemon, cucumber, and small fried fish if desired.
Serve with your choice of cucumber, Hollandaise, caper, Maitre d'Hotel, oyster, curry, or tartare sauce.
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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Vinegar + cucumbertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,734 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).
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Lemon + cucumbertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,067 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Salmon + fishtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,078 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Salmon + cucumbertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together513 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Lemon + fishtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,889 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Salmon
- Is the main protein, which firms and turns opaque as it cooks in the simmering water.
- Salt
- Seasons the cooking water so the fish is seasoned as it poaches.
The step that matters
Boiling time for the whole fish. Time is set by weight, so an overcooked fish turns dry and flaky. Keep the water at a gentle simmer rather than a hard boil so the flesh cooks evenly and stays moist.
“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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