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Pickled Salmon

A salmon preserved in a vinegar brine with spices and sweet oil.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,395 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Pickled Salmon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the salmon

  1. Clean the salmon and cut it into large pieces.

  2. Boil the salmon in salted water until cooked, then drain.

  3. Wrap the salmon in a dry cloth and refrigerate overnight.

Make the pickling liquid

  1. In a kettle, combine the water used for boiling, vinegar, black pepper, allspice, and mace.

  2. Boil the mixture covered to retain flavor, then let it cool completely.

Pickle and store

  1. Pour the cooled vinegar mixture over the salmon.

  2. Add sweet oil on top to help preserve it.

  3. Cover tightly and store in a dry, cool place for several months.

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. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + macetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Vinegar + allspicetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

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

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

  5. Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,257 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

Pepper and mace 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
Is the main protein that is cooked, then preserved in the vinegar brine.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that preserves the fish and gives it a sharp, tangy flavor.
Black pepper
Adds pungent, warm spice flavor to the pickling liquid.
Allspice
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavor to the pickling liquid.
Mace
Adds a delicate, aromatic spice flavor to the pickling liquid.
Sweet oil
Forms a layer on top of the pickle that helps protect the fish from air.

The step that matters

Cooling the vinegar mixture completely before pouring it over the salmon. Pouring hot liquid over cooked fish can soften its texture and partly cook it further, leaving it mushy. Cooling the brine first keeps the fish firm and lets the spices infuse evenly.

Swap the mace

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

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

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