Name: Boiled Salmon
Ingredients: 1 large thick salmon; 1 handful coarse sea salt; water for boiling

Boiled Salmon

Ingredients

1 large thick salmon
1 handful coarse sea salt
water for boiling

Directions

Prepare

Scale and clean the salmon without cutting it open.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the coarse sea salt.

Cook and serve

Carefully place the salmon in the boiling water.
Boil the salmon for about 1 hour for a 10‑pound fish, ensuring it is fully cooked.
Once done, lift the salmon using a strainer and let it drain over the pot.
Heat a serving dish and a white napkin.
Gently place the salmon in the dish without breaking it.
Serve hot with caper sauce or anchovy sauce on the side.

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon: Forms the main body of the dish, cooking through in gently boiling water to become tender and flaky.
Coarse sea salt: Seasons the cooking water so the fish is lightly flavoured as it poaches.

The step that matters

Boil the salmon for about 1 hour for a 10‑pound fish, ensuring it is fully cooked.. Salmon should be cooked through but not overcooked; the flesh turns dry and firm when held too long at a boil. Checking that the thickest part is opaque and flakes easily helps avoid both underdone and dry fish.

“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.