Skip to main content
Main

Kipper, or Dried Salmon

Salmon is salted, dried, and optionally treated with saltpetre before serving.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Fish and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,948 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Kipper, or Dried Salmon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

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

  2. Wipe the fish clean with a cloth and score it.

  3. After cleaning, sprinkle with salt and let it drain overnight.

  4. Rub with 2-3 ounces of pounded saltpetre, if using.

Salt and dry

  1. Sprinkle a handful of coarse sea salt on each side and let it sit for three days.

  2. Hang the fish to dry; it will be ready in two days.

  3. Cut into pieces and pack tightly in a pot with layers of salt.

  4. If brine does not rise in a few days, boil a strong brine and pour it over the fish.

Serve

  1. Before serving, sprinkle with black pepper and broil.

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. Fish + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,948 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Salmon
Its flesh is the main body that salt draws moisture from and firms as it dries.
Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the fish, slowing spoilage during curing.
Pounded saltpetre
Helps preserve the curing fish and gives it a characteristic colour.

The step that matters

Salting and packing in brine. Salt must fully penetrate and keep the fish submerged in brine; if the brine does not rise, the fish can spoil. Boiling a strong brine and pouring it over restores the protective liquid layer.

“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.

More dried salmon recipes

with Poached Eggs 3Grilled 3 See all 12 →

You might also like

Fried FishFried Fish120 recipesFish CroquettesFish Croquettes81 recipesScalloped CodScalloped Cod69 recipesBroiled FishBroiled Fish68 recipes