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Kippered Salmon

Salmon wrapped in paper with butter, lemon juice, and cayenne pepper, then grilled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Kippered Salmon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the parcels

  1. Wash the salmon slices thoroughly in cold water and dry them.

  2. Butter a sheet of thick writing paper well on both sides.

  3. Place a slice of salmon on one side of the paper. Add a small pat of butter, a pinch of cayenne pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice on top.

  4. Fold the other half of the paper over the fish and secure it tightly.

  5. Repeat with the second slice of salmon.

Cook and serve

  1. Place both packets on a hot, well-greased grill.

  2. Cook the salmon for 4 to 5 minutes, turning constantly until heated through.

  3. Serve in the paper on a hot dish and garnish with parsley.

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. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

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

  3. Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Salmon + lemontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,918 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon
Provides the main protein, which cooks gently inside the sealed paper.
Butter
Adds moisture and richness so the fish stays tender while it steams in the paper.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the fish.

The step that matters

Sealing the paper parcels tightly. A tight fold traps steam so the fish cooks gently in its own moisture and butter. Gaps let steam escape, leaving the fish drier and unevenly cooked.

“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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