Skip to main content
Main

Salmon, Smoked or Kippered

A method of curing salmon with salt, sugar, saltpetre, and Jamaica pepper, then drying and smoking.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Salmon and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 27% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,446 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Salmon, Smoked or Kippered

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Scale the fish and split it down the back.

  2. Remove the head and all the backbone except 3 inches at the tail.

  3. Clean and dry the inside thoroughly.

Cure

  1. Rub the fish well with salt and Jamaica pepper, and let it sit for 24 hours.

  2. Drain well and rub the fish two or three times with the mixture of salt, sugar, and saltpetre.

  3. Let it stand for 2 days, then rub it again with the mixture.

Dry and smoke

  1. Stretch the fish on sticks and hang it by the tail, exposed to the sun or heat for 3 to 4 days.

  2. Afterward, suspend it in the smoke of a wood or turf fire until dry, usually from 15 to 20 days.

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 + peppertop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,446 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  2. Pepper + sugartop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,401 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Pepper and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,401 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 flesh that is cured, dried and smoked into the finished product.
Common salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the fish during curing, helping it keep.
Coarse sugar
Balances the salt and adds mild sweetness to the cure.
Saltpetre
Helps preserve the colour of the fish and inhibits spoilage during curing.

The step that matters

Drying and smoking the fish. The fish must dry fully in smoke over many days. Insufficient drying leaves moisture that can allow spoilage, while the smoke adds flavour and helps preserve the fish.

“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 smoked salmon recipes

Broiled 8Spread 5Quiche 3Relish 3Sandwich 3 See all 26 →

You might also like

Salmon SaladSalmon Salad155 recipesSalmon CroquettesSalmon Croquettes129 recipesCanned SalmonCanned Salmon14 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipes