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Salmon, How to Pickle

A method for pickling salmon fillets with salt, sugar, vinegar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Salmon, How to Pickle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Clean the salmon and cut it into fillets.

  2. In a bowl, mix equal parts salt and sugar.

  3. Rub the salt and sugar mixture onto the salmon fillets.

Pickle and chill

  1. Place the fillets in a container, layering with spices.

  2. Pour vinegar over the salmon until fully submerged.

  3. Seal the container and refrigerate for several days 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. Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Salmon + sugartop 35% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together931 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon
Forms the flesh that is cured and firmed by the salt and vinegar.
Salt
Draws moisture out of the fish and seasons it during curing.
Sugar
Balances the salt's sharpness and adds mild sweetness to the cure.
Vinegar
Acidifies the fish, firming its texture and preserving it during chilling.

The step that matters

Submerging the salmon in vinegar. Fillets left exposed to air can spoil or dry out. Full submersion keeps the fish covered by acidic liquid, which helps it firm up and stay safe during several days of refrigerated pickling.

“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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