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Smoked Salmon

Smoked salmon is a whole fish cured with salt, sugar, and optional saltpetre, then smoked over wood for five to six days.

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

Why it works: Salmon and sugar work together. They rank in the top 35% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 931 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Smoked Salmon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the fish along the back.

  2. Clean and scale the fish.

  3. Remove the roe without washing.

  4. Carefully remove the bone.

  5. Rub the inside and outside of the fish with a mixture of salt, sugar, and saltpetre.

Cure and dry

  1. Cover the fish with a board.

  2. Place weights on top to press it down for two days and nights.

  3. Drain the fish.

  4. Wipe it dry.

  5. Stretch it open.

  6. Secure it with sticks.

  7. Hang the fish.

Smoke and serve

  1. Smoke it over a wood fire for five to six days.

  2. Cut off slices.

  3. Soak them in lukewarm water.

  4. Broil for breakfast.

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. Salmon + sugartop 35% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together931 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon
Is the main flesh that is cured, dried, and smoked into the finished dish.
Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and helps preserve the flesh during curing.
Fine sugar
Balances the salt and adds mild sweetness during curing.
Saltpetre
Helps preserve the fish and keeps its colour during curing.

The step that matters

Rubbing the fish with the salt, sugar, and saltpetre mixture. Salt must reach the flesh evenly. Salt draws out moisture and slows spoilage, so missed areas can spoil while the pressed fish is curing for two days.

“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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