Name: Tamarind Fish
Ingredients: ripe tamarinds; good English vinegar; coarse sea salt; fresh hilsa fish with roes

Why it works: Fish and roe work together. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Tamarind Fish

Ingredients

ripe tamarinds
good English vinegar
coarse sea salt
fresh hilsa fish with roes

Directions

Make a thick pickle by mixing ripe tamarinds, vinegar, and a little salt. Pass it through a sieve to remove stones and fiber.
Clean the hilsa fish by removing scales, fins, heads, tails, and roes. Slice the fish and wipe away any blood with a clean towel.
Do not use water while cleaning the fish or preparing the pickle. Ensure the cutting board and knife are very clean.
Lay the fish slices and roes on a clean dish, sprinkle thickly with salt, and cover with a wire cover to keep flies away.
After 4-5 hours, place a layer of pickle in a wide-mouthed jar, then add a thick coating of pickle over each fish slice and roe after washing away the salt with a little vinegar.
Continue layering until all fish is in the jar, then add a very thick layer of pickle on top.
Cork the jar securely and tie it down with a bladder to keep it airtight. It will be ready in three weeks.

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.

Fish + roetop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together118 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Tamarind + vinegartop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together165 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Tamarind + fishtop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Vinegar + roetop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together136 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Vinegar + fishtop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,036 recipes

Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).