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Salmon Pickled

Pickled salmon prepared by brining in vinegar, pepper, allspice, salt, and bay leaves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Salmon Pickled

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove the bones from the cold salmon and place it in a clean deep dish.

  2. In a saucepan, combine the fish cooking liquid, vinegar, whole pepper, whole allspice, salt, and bay leaves.

  3. Boil the mixture for about 10 minutes, then let it cool.

Pickle

  1. Pour the cooled mixture over the salmon.

  2. Let it sit for about 12 hours before serving.

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 + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  3. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + fishtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,948 recipes

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

  5. Vinegar + fishtop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,036 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

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

What each ingredient does

Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and helps preserve the fish.
Fish cooking liquid
Provides moisture and a savory base for the pickling liquid.
Whole allspice
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavor to the pickling liquid.
Bay leaves
Contribute a subtle herbal aroma to the pickling liquid.
Whole pepper
Adds sharp, aromatic heat that infuses the liquid.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool before pouring it over the salmon. Pouring boiling liquid over the fish would partly cook it and firm its texture unevenly. Cooling the mixture first lets the flavors soak in gently and keeps the salmon tender.

Swap the allspice

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Dillfits about as well
  4. Allspicethe original

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