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Collared Salmon

A salmon fillet rolled, seasoned, and poached in a flavored liquid, then served with fennel garnish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and fennel match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,216 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Collared Salmon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Select a piece of salmon sufficient to make a handsome roll, then wash and dry it.

  2. Mix coarse sea salt, white pepper, ground mace, and Jamaica pepper to season the fish generously.

  3. Rub the seasoning inside and out of the fish, then roll it tightly and bandage it.

Poach and pickle

  1. In a pot, combine enough water and ⅓ cup vinegar to cover the fish, adding bay leaves, salt, both types of pepper, and a bunch of fennel.

  2. Remove the fish and drain it; boil the liquid for an additional 10 minutes, then strain it.

  3. Once cooled, pour the liquid over the fish.

Serve

  1. Before serving, remove the tapes and garnish 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. Pepper + fenneltop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,216 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Salmon + fenneltop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together253 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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
The main ingredient, rolled tightly so it holds a neat, even shape when sliced.
Vinegar
Adds acidity to the cooking liquid, sharpening the flavour and firming the surface of the fish.
Black pepper
Adds sharp, aromatic heat that seasons the fish and the cooking liquid.

The step that matters

Once cooled, pour the liquid over the fish.. The liquid must be fully cooled before it touches the fish. Hot liquid would keep cooking the flesh, making it dry and breaking its texture, while cool liquid lets the fish absorb flavour gently.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. White pepperthe original

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