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Kipper, or Dried Salmon

Salmon cured with salt, optionally saltpetre, dried, then broiled before serving.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Fish and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,948 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Kipper, or Dried Salmon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Cut the fish along the back.

  2. Remove the bone.

  3. Wipe the fish clean with a cloth.

  4. Score the fish.

Cure

  1. Sprinkle a handful of salt on each side.

  2. Let it sit for three days to cure.

Dry and broil

  1. Hang the fish to dry.

  2. Sprinkle with black pepper.

  3. Broil.

Salt, pack and brine

  1. Cut the fish along the back.

  2. Remove the bone.

  3. Wipe it clean.

  4. Sprinkle with salt.

  5. Rub with 2-3 ounces of pounded saltpetre if using.

  6. Cut into pieces.

  7. Pack tightly in a pot with layers of salt.

  8. Boil a strong brine.

  9. Pour it over the fish when cool.

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. Fish + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,948 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Fish (salmon or similar)
Provides the flesh that is cured, dried and preserved.
Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and firms the flesh, slowing spoilage and seasoning it.

The step that matters

Let it sit for three days to cure. Salt draws water out of the flesh and pulls in seasoning. Too little time leaves the fish under-cured and prone to spoiling, while the salt level and time together decide how firm and dry it becomes.

“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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