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Spiced Fish

A fish marinated in a spiced vinegar solution.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 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 ↓

Spiced Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove all bones and bits of skin from the fish.

  2. Place the fish in a deep dish.

Pickle

  1. In a saucepan, boil hot vinegar with cloves and allspice.

  2. Barely cover the fish with the spiced vinegar.

  3. Let it cool; it is ready to use once 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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Vinegar + allspicetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  3. Vinegar + clovetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Fish + clovetop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together615 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  5. Fish + vinegartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,036 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

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

What each ingredient does

Fish
Forms the main body of the dish, and its flesh firms as the vinegar acts on it.
Vinegar
Acidity that firms and preserves the fish while carrying the spice flavour.
Cloves
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour to the vinegar.
Allspice
Adds warm, aromatic spice flavour to the vinegar.

The step that matters

Barely cover the fish with the spiced vinegar. Vinegar acidity firms and preserves the fish. Too much liquid dilutes the seasoning and can make the fish soft or watery, so use just enough to cover it.

Swap the clove

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

  1. Tarragonfits about as well
  2. Clovethe original
  3. Thymefits less well
  4. Marjoramfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, vinegar, allspice. 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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