Name: Potted Shad
Ingredients: 3 or 4 freshly-caught shad; coarse sea salt; whole cloves; peppercorns; allspice; sharp vinegar

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

Dress the shad and cut them down the middle into pieces about 3 inches wide.
Layer the pieces in a jar, sprinkling salt, cloves, peppercorns, and allspice between layers.
Cover the layers with sharp vinegar.

Bake and serve

Cover the jar and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 2 to 3 hours.
Serve cut into pieces, dressed with pepper and salt, floured, and fried brown in boiling lard or drippings.

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.

Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,874 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Allspice + vinegartop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,548 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).
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

Shad: Is the main fish, becoming tender and flaky as it bakes slowly in the vinegar.
Sharp vinegar: Acidifies and softens the fish while it bakes, helping preserve and flavour it.
Whole cloves: Add warm, aromatic spice flavour that penetrates the fish during the long bake.
Allspice: Contributes warm, aromatic spice notes that complement the fish and vinegar.

“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.