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To Collar Salmon

A salmon fillet is seasoned, rolled, and simmered in a vinegar and bay leaf broth.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: White pepper and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,695 recipes. Both carry myrcene, which smells balsamic, herbaceous. The science ↓

To Collar Salmon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Split the salmon.

  2. Wash the salmon.

  3. Wipe it dry.

  4. Mix salt, white pepper, beaten mace, and Jamaica pepper.

  5. Season the fish inside and out.

  6. Roll the fish tightly.

  7. Bandage the fish.

Poach and serve

  1. Combine water and vinegar to cover the fish.

  2. Add bay leaves, salt, and both types of pepper to the liquid.

  3. Cover and simmer until cooked through.

  4. Drain the fish.

  5. Boil the liquid quickly.

  6. Let the liquid cool.

  7. Cover the fish with the liquid.

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

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. White pepper + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  5. White pepper + vinegartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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
The main protein, which turns firm and opaque as it cooks in the liquid.
Vinegar
Adds acidity to the cooking and covering liquid, giving a sharp, tangy flavour.
Bay leaves
Add a subtle herbal aroma to the cooking liquid.
Beaten mace
Adds a warm, aromatic spice flavour to the seasoning on the fish.

The step that matters

Cover and simmer until cooked through. Gentle simmering cooks the fish evenly while keeping it moist and tender. A hard boil tightens and dries the proteins, making the flesh tough and causing it to break apart.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Dillfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, mace, pepper, 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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