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Salmon, Boiled. —

A whole salmon boiled with vinegar, served with shrimp or lobster sauce and dressed cucumber.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and cucumber are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,734 recipes. Both carry 2-methylbutyl acetate, which smells fruit. The science ↓

Salmon, Boiled. —

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Add vinegar to the water in which the fish will be boiled.

  2. Place the salmon in the boiling water and cook until done.

  3. Remove the salmon from the water and place it on a folded napkin.

  4. Serve with shrimp or lobster sauce and dressed cucumber 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

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. Vinegar + cucumbertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,734 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  2. Salmon + cucumbertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together513 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  3. Pepper + cucumbertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,991 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Salmon + shrimptop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together819 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  5. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

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, becoming flaky and tender as its proteins set during gentle boiling.
Vinegar
Adds a mild acidity to the poaching water, giving the fish a slightly brighter flavour.

The step that matters

Place the salmon in the boiling water and cook until done. Salmon is easy to overcook, and proteins toughen and dry out when heated too long. Watching for the flesh to turn opaque and flake easily helps keep it moist and tender.

Swap the cucumber

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

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Cucumberthe original
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Mustardfits about as well

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