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Potted Salmon

A preserved salmon mixture seasoned with salt, mace or nutmeg, vinegar, cayenne, and covered with melted butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Salmon and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,481 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Potted Salmon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the salmon

  1. Mince the salmon to a paste.

  2. Add the salt, mace or nutmeg, vinegar, and cayenne; mix well.

Pot and seal

  1. Pack the mixture tightly into potted meat dishes.

  2. Cover the top with melted butter.

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 + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  2. Mace + buttertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,405 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Vinegar + buttertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,513 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  4. Mace + vinegartop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,415 recipes
  5. Salmon + macetop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together550 recipes

Mace and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,405 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 spread, giving bulk and a soft, pastelike texture when minced.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and cuts the richness of the fish.
Mace or nutmeg
Contributes warm, aromatic spice notes that complement the fish.

The step that matters

Pack the mixture tightly. Pressing out air pockets makes the paste dense and even, so it slices cleanly and holds its shape. A full layer of melted butter over the top then excludes air from the surface, which helps the dish keep its texture and flavour.

Swap the mace

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

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

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