Why it works: Vinegar and allspice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,548 recipes. Both carry 2-methylbutyl acetate, which smells fruit. The science ↓
Pickled Perch
Ingredients
Directions
Remove back fins and skin from the perch.
Sprinkle the fish with coarse sea salt.
Steam the fish until tender.
Place the fish in a stone jar.
Boil enough vinegar to cover the fish with whole allspice and black peppercorns.
Pour the hot vinegar over the fish.
Set the jar in a cool place.
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.
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Vinegar + allspicetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,548 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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