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Salad

To Collar Salmon

A method of preparing salmon by rubbing with spices, rolling, simmering in vinegar and water, then serving with fennel.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: White pepper and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,695 recipes. Both carry myrcene, which smells balsamic, herbaceous. The science ↓

To Collar Salmon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Split the salmon and wash it thoroughly.

  2. Mix coarse sea salt, white pepper, beaten mace, and Jamaica pepper.

  3. Rub this mixture inside and outside the fish.

  4. Roll the fish tightly and bandage it.

Poach

  1. Combine water and vinegar in a pot to cover the fish, adding bay leaves and both types of pepper.

  2. Cover the pot and simmer until the fish is cooked through.

  3. Drain the fish.

Finish and serve

  1. Boil the cooking liquid quickly.

  2. Let it cool.

  3. Serve the salmon with fennel.

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. White pepper + macetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,695 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  2. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  3. Mace + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,257 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. White pepper + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  5. White pepper + vinegartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,154 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Mace and pepper 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
Forms the main body of the dish, which the rolling and bandaging hold into shape.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the fish and draws out some moisture, firming the flesh before cooking.
Vinegar
Adds acidity to the poaching liquid, brightening flavor and helping firm the fish.
Bay leaves
Add a subtle herbal aroma to the poaching liquid.
Beaten mace
Contributes a warm, aromatic spice flavor to the fish.

The step that matters

Simmer until cooked through. Gentle simmering cooks the rolled fish evenly from the outside in, while a hard boil can toughen the flesh and break the roll apart.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Clovefits better
  3. Dillfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

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