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Spiced Salmon

A pickled salmon prepared by boiling, then brining with vinegar, water, spices, and butter.

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 pickle

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

  2. Combine equal parts of the boiling water and vinegar to cover the fish.

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

  4. Bring the mixture to a boil, skim it clear, and add the butter.

Pickle and store

  1. Pour the hot mixture over the fish and set it in a cool place.

  2. Once cold, cover it tightly and store it for later use.

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

Vinegar
Acidity that preserves the fish and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
Salmon
The main protein, which firms up when boiled and then soaks up the pickling liquid.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the hot pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Pouring the hot mixture over the fish. The liquid needs to be hot and fully covering the fish so the vinegar penetrates evenly and the surface stays protected while it cools.

Swap the mace

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

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

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