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Pickled Salmon

A whole salmon is boiled with vinegar, salt, bay leaves, mace, and white whole pepper, then preserved in the reduced liquid.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,814 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Pickled Salmon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the salmon

  1. Cut the salmon down the middle and into proper-sized pieces.

  2. Place the salmon in a fish kettle and cover with cold water.

Cook and pickle

  1. Add vinegar, salt, bay leaves, mace, and white whole pepper.

  2. Boil until the salmon is cooked, then remove and lay it on a clean cloth.

  3. Strain the cooking liquid into a smaller vessel and boil until reduced by three parts.

  4. Let the liquid cool, then place the salmon in it for preservation.

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. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Mace + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,257 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Vinegar + macetop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,415 recipes
  4. Salmon + macetop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together550 recipes
  5. Salmon + vinegartop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Mace and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 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 dish and is cooked through in the seasoned liquid.
Vinegar
Acidifies the cooking liquid, helping preserve the fish and giving it a sharp flavour.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the liquid and helps draw flavour into the fish and preserve it.
Bay leaves
Adds a gentle herbal aroma to the cooking and pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Reducing the cooking liquid. Boiling the strained liquid down concentrates its acidity and salt, which helps it preserve the salmon. If it is not reduced enough, the pickle may be weaker and less protective. Let it cool fully before adding the fish so it does not cook further.

Swap the mace

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

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

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