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Salmon, to Boil

A whole salmon is boiled in salted vinegar water until cooked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Salmon and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 27% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,675 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Salmon, to Boil

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Fill a pot with lukewarm water to cover the fish.

  2. Add the salt and vinegar to the water.

  3. Bring the water to a very gentle boil.

Cook and serve

  1. Remove any scum that rises to the surface.

  2. Boil the fish for 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on thickness.

  3. Check for doneness when the eyes start to bulge and fins pull out easily.

  4. Use a fish drainer to lift the fish from the pot.

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 + vinegartop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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 dish and is cooked gently in the poaching liquid until it flakes.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the poaching water so the fish is flavored as it cooks.
Vinegar
Adds a light acidity to the poaching water that brightens the flavor of the fish.

The step that matters

Bring the water to a very gentle boil. A rapid boil agitates the fish and can break it apart or toughen the proteins. Gentle simmering cooks the fish evenly and keeps the flesh moist and tender.

“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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