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Smoked Salmon

Smoked salmon prepared by soaking, cleaning, oiling, and broiling, served with lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Smoked Salmon

Why it works: Olive and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,922 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Smoked Salmon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the salmon overnight, changing the water three times to keep it warm.

  2. In the morning, rub the salmon to remove smoke and rust.

  3. Leave the salmon in ice water for half an hour, then wipe it dry.

  4. Rub the salmon with olive oil and vinegar.

Broil and serve

  1. Broil the salmon over a clean fire.

  2. Serve with sliced lemon.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Olive + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Olive + vinegartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,297 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  3. Salmon + olivetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,942 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  4. Salmon + lemontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,918 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Vinegar + lemontop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,334 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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 and turns opaque as it cooks.
Olive oil
Adds fat that keeps the surface moist and helps it brown.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the fish.
Lemon
Adds acidity and fresh aroma alongside the cooked fish.

The step that matters

Broil the salmon over a clean fire. Broiling is fast and intense, so the salmon can dry out or char before its centre is cooked. Watch it closely and remove it once it flakes easily.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Cherryfits about as well
  3. Plumfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, olive, 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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