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Potted Shad

A preserved fish dish made by layering shad with salt, spices, and vinegar, then baking.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Potted Shad

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Mix the salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, cloves, allspice, and mace together.

  2. Pack the fish pieces closely in a jar.

  3. Sprinkle a layer of the salt and spice mixture over each layer of fish.

  4. Continue layering until the jar is filled.

Bake and seal

  1. Cover the fish with vinegar.

  2. Cover the jar with a cloth and seal it with a piece of dough to prevent steam from escaping.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

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

What each ingredient does

Shad
Is the main protein, which becomes tender and firm-textured as it bakes slowly in the jar.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the fish and draws out moisture, helping preserve it during the long, slow cook.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and helps keep the fish preserved.
Allspice
Contributes warm, aromatic flavor that complements the fish.

The step that matters

Seal the jar tightly before baking. A tight seal with cloth and dough traps steam and aroma inside, so the fish cooks gently in its own moisture. If steam escapes, the fish can dry out and the flavor concentrates unevenly.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Macethe original

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