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Salad

To Pickle Salmon

A method of preserving salmon by boiling, then brining with vinegar and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 ↓

To Pickle Salmon

Ingredients

Directions

Poach the salmon

  1. Boil the salmon gently until cooked.

  2. Strain the cooking liquid.

Make the pickling liquid

  1. Add bay leaves, peppercorns, and coarse sea salt to the liquid.

  2. Bring the liquid to a boil.

  3. Let the mixture cool.

  4. Add enough best vinegar to cover the fish.

Pickle and rest

  1. Pour the mixture over the salmon.

  2. Let it sit for at least one month.

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
Is the main protein that cooks through and then firms up while it pickles in the brine.
Best vinegar
Provides the acidity that preserves the fish and gives it a sharp, tangy flavour.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the liquid and draws moisture from the fish, helping it firm and keep.
Peppercorns
Add a sharp, aromatic heat to the pickling liquid.
Bay leaves
Add a herbal, aromatic note that flavours the liquid and the fish.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool before adding the vinegar. Adding vinegar to hot liquid can drive off its sharp aroma and may cook the surface of the fish unevenly. Cooling the liquid first keeps the vinegar bright and lets the fish pickle gently and evenly.

“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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