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To Bake Herrings

A seasoned herring baked with spices and alegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

To Bake Herrings

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 herrings thoroughly.

  2. Mix black pepper, Jamaica pepper, cloves, and coarse sea salt together. Rub the spice mixture all over the herrings.

Bake

  1. Place the herrings straight in a pot.

  2. Cover the herrings with alegar.

  3. Tie a strong paper over the pot.

  4. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 30 minutes.

  5. These can be eaten hot or cold.

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

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

  3. Clove + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Herrings
Form the main body of the dish and become tender and flaky during slow baking.
Alegar (or vinegar)
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavour and helps preserve the fish during baking.
Black pepper
Adds pungent aroma and warmth that penetrates the fish's surface.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the fish and draws moisture from its surface to help the spices adhere.

The step that matters

Covering the herrings with alegar before baking. The acid in the vinegar works into the fish as it bakes, shaping its flavour and texture. If the fish is not fully covered, the exposed parts dry out and cook unevenly.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, 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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