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To Pot Shad

A shad seasoned with coarse sea salt, cayenne pepper, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, and cider vinegar, baked in a jar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

To Pot 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. Clean the shad and remove the tail, head, and fins.

  2. Cut the shad into pieces, wash, and dry them.

  3. Season each piece with coarse sea salt and cayenne pepper.

Pot and bake

  1. Layer the pieces in a stone jar, adding allspice, cloves, and stick cinnamon between layers.

  2. Cover the layers with good cider vinegar.

  3. Tie thick paper over the jar and place it in a 350°F (175°C) oven for three to four hours.

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 + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Shad
Provides the fish that becomes tender and flaky during the long, slow bake.
Cider vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor and helps preserve the fish.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the fish and draws out moisture to firm its texture.

The step that matters

Covering the jar before baking. Tying thick paper over the jar traps steam and keeps the fish moist during the three to four hours in the oven. Without a good seal, the surface can dry out and the flesh can toughen.

Swap the cinnamon

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

  1. Cinnamonthe original
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Nutmegfits less well
  4. Marjoramfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, allspice, clove, cider, 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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