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To Boil Fresh Salmon

A method for boiling fresh salmon in salted water, served with horseradish, parsley, and lobster sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

To Boil Fresh Salmon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the salmon

  1. Scale and clean the salmon.

  2. Handle the salmon minimally and cut it open only as necessary.

  3. Place the salmon in a large fish kettle.

  4. Fill the kettle with cold water.

  5. Add a handful of coarse sea salt.

  6. Bring the water to a slow boil.

Cook and drain

  1. Cook the salmon for 15 minutes per pound, ensuring it is thoroughly cooked.

  2. Skim the surface to maintain color.

  3. Lift the salmon to drain.

  4. Cover the salmon with a soft napkin to absorb moisture.

Serve and store

  1. Serve the salmon on a hot dish garnished with scraped horseradish and curled parsley.

  2. Prepare a small tureen of lobster sauce to accompany the salmon.

  3. For leftovers, place the salmon in a deep dish with a close cover.

  4. Season the reserved boiling water with whole pepper, whole allspice, vinegar, and salt.

  5. Boil the seasoned water.

  6. Once cooled, pour the mixture over the salmon.

  7. Cover the salmon tightly.

  8. Store in a cold place or on ice for up to two days.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Allspice + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,289 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Allspice + horseradishtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together654 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Horseradish + parsleytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together562 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Fresh salmon
Is the main protein, cooked gently in simmering water until it is firm and flaky.
Vinegar
Adds acidity to the seasoned pickling liquid, giving the leftover salmon a sharp, tangy flavour.
Whole pepper
Adds aromatic heat to the seasoned liquid used for storing the leftover salmon.
Whole allspice
Adds warm, aromatic spice to the seasoned liquid used for storing the leftover salmon.

The step that matters

Keep the water at a slow boil, not a hard boil. A gentle simmer cooks the fish evenly and keeps the flesh moist and tender. A vigorous boil agitates the delicate flesh, which can break it apart and toughen the outer layers before the centre is cooked.

Swap the allspice

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, pepper, vinegar, horseradish, parsley, lobster, sauce):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, pepper, vinegar, horseradish, parsley, lobster, sauce. 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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