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Salmon Collared

A seasoned salmon roll simmered in vinegar and water, served with fennel.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and fennel match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,216 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Salmon Collared

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Split the salmon to make a roll.

  2. Wash and wipe the fish.

  3. Mix salt, white pepper, pounded mace, and Jamaica pepper to season the fish.

  4. Rub the seasoning inside the fish.

  5. Rub the seasoning out of the fish.

Roll and poach

  1. Roll the fish tightly.

  2. Bandage the fish.

  3. Add enough water and ⅓ cup vinegar to cover the fish.

  4. Add bay leaves, coarse sea salt, and both types of pepper.

  5. Cover the fish.

  6. Simmer until cooked through.

  7. Drain the liquid.

Pickle and serve

  1. Boil the liquid quickly.

  2. Let the liquid cool.

  3. Pour the liquid over the fish.

  4. Serve with fennel.

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 + fenneltop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,216 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. White pepper + macetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,695 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  3. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  4. Mace + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,257 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Salmon + fenneltop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together253 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

Mace and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon
Forms the main body of the dish, and its protein sets firm as it cooks.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity to the cooking liquid, balancing the richness of the fish.
Bay leaves
Add a subtle herbal aroma to the cooking liquid.
Black pepper
Adds pungent heat and aroma to the poaching liquid.

The step that matters

Simmer until cooked through. Gentle simmering cooks the salmon's protein evenly and keeps it moist and tender. Vigorous boiling toughens the flesh and can break the roll apart.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, mace, pepper, vinegar, fennel. 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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