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To Cure Salmon

This recipe uses saltpetre.

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

  1. Draw and split open the salmon. Wipe it well inside and out, but do not wash it.

  2. Sprinkle the salmon generously with brown sugar and let it sit for 1-2 days.

  3. Rub the salmon with a small amount of coarse sea salt and saltpetre.

  4. Once absorbed, wipe the fish and hang it in a cool, airy place for a short time.

  5. Slowly smoke the salmon.

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

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