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To Pickle Salmon

A method for pickling salmon in a vinegar and salt brine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,814 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

To Pickle Salmon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Split the salmon and cut it into pieces.

  2. Place the pieces in a kettle and cover with water.

  3. Add vinegar, salt, bay leaves, mace, and black pepper to the water.

Cook the salmon

  1. Boil the salmon until cooked.

  2. Drain the salmon and lay it on a cloth.

  3. Repeat the process with the remaining salmon.

Pickle and pack

  1. Pour the liquor over each batch.

  2. If the liquor lacks flavor, add more vinegar and salt as needed.

  3. Boil for 45 minutes.

  4. Once cooled, pack the fish in a container.

  5. Ensure it is fully covered with pickle.

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Vinegar + macetop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,415 recipes
  4. Salmon + macetop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together550 recipes
  5. Salmon + vinegartop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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, firming as it cooks and holding its flakes in the pickle.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and helps preserve the fish in the pickle.
Bay leaves
Contribute a subtle herbal aroma to the cooking liquor.
Mace
Adds a warm, spiced aroma to the pickling liquor.
Black pepper
Adds a sharp, pungent note to the pickling liquor.

The step that matters

Ensure the fish is fully covered with pickle. Fish left exposed above the liquid can spoil and dry out. Keeping every piece submerged in the acidic vinegar brine protects it and lets the flavors penetrate evenly.

Swap the mace

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

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

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