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Pickled Herrings

A method of preserving herrings by curing them in vinegar, water, salt, pepper, peppercorns, and cloves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

Pickled Herrings

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the herrings

  1. Remove all bones from the herrings by cutting from the tail to the head on the underside.

  2. Run your finger along the bone on each side without breaking the back.

  3. Sprinkle the inside of the herrings with pepper and salt.

  4. Roll the herrings with the skin outside and place them in a deep dish.

Pickle and bake

  1. Pour enough vinegar and water to half cover the herrings.

  2. Add a few peppercorns and cloves.

  3. Cover closely and cook in a 350°F (175°C) oven for half an hour.

Serve

  1. Serve 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. Vinegar + clovetop 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

Fresh herrings
Provide the main flesh, which firms and turns opaque as it cooks gently in the acidic liquid.
Vinegar
Acidity that preserves and sharpens the flavour of the fish while it pickles.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the fish directly and helps draw out moisture for a firmer texture.

The step that matters

Covering the dish closely while cooking. A tight cover traps steam so the fish cooks gently and evenly in the vinegar and water, keeping it moist rather than dry or broken.

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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