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To Cure Salmon

A method for curing salmon using saltpeter, salt, sugar, and drying.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Salmon and sugar work together. They rank in the top 35% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 931 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

To Cure Salmon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the salmon

  1. Cut the salmon down.

  2. Scale the salmon.

  3. Clean the salmon.

  4. Remove the head.

  5. Remove the inside.

  6. Remove the roe.

  7. Remove the bone.

Cure the salmon

  1. Mix saltpeter, bay salt, and sugar in equal proportions.

  2. Rub the mixture into the salmon.

  3. Leave the salmon on a board or dish for two days.

  4. Rub it with common salt.

  5. Let it drain for one day.

  6. Wipe the salmon clean.

Dry and smoke

  1. Spread the fish open with small sticks.

  2. Hang it up in the smoke of a wood fire.

  3. Hang it up in the sun to dry. Remove it.

  4. Keep it in a dry place until used.

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. Salmon + sugartop 35% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together931 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon
The fish that is cured, dried and smoked, so its flesh keeps for later use.
Saltpetre
Acts as a preservative and helps the cured fish keep its colour and resist spoilage.
Coarse sea salt
Draws moisture out of the fish and helps preserve it during curing.
Coarse sugar
Balances the harshness of the salt and adds a mild sweetness to the cure.

The step that matters

Rub the cure mixture evenly into the salmon. Salt and saltpetre preserve the fish only where they reach it. An even rub draws out moisture and protects all parts of the flesh, so uneven coverage can leave spoilage-prone spots.

“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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