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Salad

To Salt a Salmon

A method of salting a whole salmon using coarse sea salt and pounded saltpetre, then brining if necessary.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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To Salt a Salmon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the salmon

  1. Cut the fish up the back and remove the bone.

  2. Wipe it clean and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.

  3. Let it sit overnight to drain off the liquid.

  4. Wipe it dry and rub with pounded saltpetre.

  5. Cut the salmon into pieces.

Pack and cure

  1. Pack the pieces tightly in a pot, placing a thick layer of salt between each layer of fish.

  2. If brine does not rise in a few days, boil a strong brine and pour it over the salmon when cold.

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon
The main protein; its flesh is what the salt draws moisture from and preserves.
Coarse sea salt
Draws liquid out of the fish and seasons it, slowing spoilage through curing.
Pounded saltpetre
Adds a curing agent that helps preserve the fish's color and firmness during salting.

The step that matters

Packing the pieces in salt. Salt must form a thick, even layer between every piece so the fish is fully covered. Gaps let the flesh spoil, and the salt draws out moisture that would otherwise dilute the cure.

“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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