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Roes, Salted

Salted fish roe preserved with salt, nitre, and lard, served as a caviar substitute.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Fish and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,432 recipes. Both carry 4-heptenal, which smells creamy, biscuit. The science ↓

Roes, Salted

Oven, in the book's wordsA cool oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the roes

  1. Wash the roes in milk and water.

  2. Wash the roes in cold water, removing all fibre.

  3. Drain thoroughly and sprinkle ¼ pound of coarse sea salt for each 1½ pounds of roes.

  4. Let them sit in the brine for 2 days, turning occasionally.

Dry and press

  1. Place on a board in front of a fire, about 1 yard away, for 10-12 hours until dry.

  2. Crush well with a weight and press into a dry jar.

Cure and store

  1. Add 12 drops of spirit of nitre and enough pounded saltpetre to cover a sixpence for each 1½ pounds of roes.

  2. Cover the jar with writing paper spread with cold lard, tie with wash‑leather, and store in a warm place.

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. Fish + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,432 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  2. Roe + fishtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together118 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Milk + spirittop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together100 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity).

  4. Roe + milktop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together32 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Fish + spirittop 42% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Roes from fish about to spawn
Form the main body of the dish, becoming firm and concentrated once salted and dried.
Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the roes, helping preserve them during the brine.
Spirit of nitre
Acts as a curing agent that helps preserve the roes and fix their colour.
Pounded saltpetre
Serves as a curing agent that aids preservation during long storage.
Cold lard
Forms a fat seal over the surface that limits contact with air.

The step that matters

Drying by the fire. Roes left too long near heat can harden or scorch, while too little drying leaves moisture that encourages spoilage. Checking the roes until they are dry, without overheating, keeps them preserved and tender.

“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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