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To Boil Salmon

A boiled salmon served with anchovy sauce, optionally broiled in buttered paper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

To Boil Salmon

Ingredients

Directions

Poach the salmon

  1. Fill a fish kettle with enough spring water to cover the salmon.

  2. Bring the water to a boil and add a handful of salt.

  3. Remove any scum that rises to the surface.

  4. Wash the salmon well and place it in the boiling water.

  5. Boil gently for 15 minutes per pound, adjusting for thickness.

Broil and serve

  1. For broiling, cut salmon into 1-inch thick slices and season with salt and pepper.

  2. Place each slice on a buttered or oiled sheet of white paper, twist the ends, and broil over a slow fire for 6 to 8 minutes.

  3. Serve the salmon in the paper with anchovy sauce.

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. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Salmon + anchovytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together535 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Butter + anchovytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,697 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Salmon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,481 recipes

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

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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
Is the main protein, cooked gently so it stays moist and flakes tender.
Butter or oil
Coats the paper so the salmon does not stick and adds richness to the fish.
Anchovy sauce
Adds a salty, savoury note that complements the rich flavour of the salmon.

The step that matters

Boil gently for 15 minutes per pound. Water kept at a gentle simmer cooks the salmon evenly and keeps it moist, while a hard boil toughens the proteins and breaks the flesh apart. Thicker pieces need longer, so adjust for thickness.

“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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