Skip to main content
Main

Pickled Salmon

A salmon preserved in a vinegar brine with spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Nutmeg and mace 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 ↓

Pickled Salmon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the salmon

  1. Clean the salmon and cut it into large pieces.

  2. Boil the salmon in salted water until cooked, then drain it.

  3. Wrap the salmon in a dry cloth and refrigerate overnight.

Make the pickle

  1. In a kettle, combine the water used for boiling, vinegar, black pepper, nutmeg, and mace.

  2. Boil the mixture covered to prevent flavor loss.

Pickle and store

  1. Once cooled, pour the vinegar mixture over the salmon.

  2. Add sweet oil on top to help preserve it.

  3. Cover tightly and store in a dry, cool place for several months.

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. Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,257 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Vinegar + macetop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,415 recipes

Pepper and mace 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
Main protein; cooking it first firms the flesh so it holds its shape in the vinegar.
Vinegar
Acidity that helps preserve the fish and gives the pickle its sharp flavour.
Black pepper
Adds sharp, pungent aroma and heat to the pickling liquid.
Mace
Adds warm, aromatic flavour to the pickling liquid.
Nutmeg
Adds warm, sweet aroma to the pickling liquid.
Sweet oil
Forms a layer on the surface that limits contact with air.

The step that matters

Let the spiced vinegar cool before pouring it over the salmon. The fish is already cooked, so hot liquid would cook it further and soften its texture, making it more likely to break apart. Cooling first keeps the salmon firm and the pickle stable for storage.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

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

You might also like

Salmon SaladSalmon Salad155 recipesSalmon CroquettesSalmon Croquettes129 recipesCanned SalmonCanned Salmon14 recipesSmoked SalmonSmoked Salmon14 recipes