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Salmon

A salted salmon prepared with a forcemeat of oysters, lobster, anchovies, herbs, and spices, then boiled and served with pickle.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Mace and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Salmon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the salmon

  1. Cut off a handful from the tail of the salmon and wash the large piece.

  2. Dry the salmon with a cloth and rub it with yolks of eggs.

Make the forcemeat

  1. Make forcemeat with the tail, adding oysters, lobster tails, hard-boiled egg yolks, anchovies, chopped herbs, salt, chives, mace, nutmeg, pepper, and grated bread.

  2. Combine the forcemeat with more yolks of eggs to form a mixture.

Roll and cook

  1. Spread the mixture over the salmon, roll it into a collar, and bind it with broad tape.

  2. Boil water, salt, and vinegar, then add the collars along with sweet herbs, sliced ginger, and nutmeg.

  3. Gently boil for about 2 hours, then remove from the pot.

Pickle

  1. Place the salmon in a sousing pan and pour cold pickle over it, letting it stand until needed.

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. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Chive + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together300 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  4. Salmon + oystertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together672 recipes

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

  5. Chive + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,885 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
Forms the main body of the collar and provides the flesh that is cooked and pickled.
Eggs
Yolks bind the forcemeat and enrich it, helping it hold together during cooking.
Anchovies
Add savory depth to the forcemeat through their salty, concentrated flavor.
Grated bread
Absorbs moisture and gives the forcemeat a soft, tender texture.

The step that matters

Rolling and binding the collar. If the forcemeat is spread unevenly or the tape is loose, the collar can open or lose its shape during the long gentle boil. Firm, even rolling keeps the filling enclosed and the fish evenly cooked.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, egg, oyster, lobster, chive, nutmeg, pepper):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, egg, oyster, lobster, chive, nutmeg, pepper. 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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