Why it works: Wine and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,493 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓
Boiled Pike
Ingredients
Directions
Fill a kettle with boiling water, wine, vinegar, onion, salt, peppercorns, and bay leaves.
Cook the fish in the boiling mixture over a good fire.
Serve hot with white sauce or cold with oil and vinegar.
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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Wine + vinegartop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,493 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,226 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Wine + oniontop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,784 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pike
- Firm white flesh that is cooked whole in the seasoned liquid and served as the main dish.
- Wine
- Adds acidity and aroma to the cooking liquid.
- Vinegar
- Adds sharpness that brightens the cooking liquid and the flavor of the fish.
- Onion
- Adds savory aroma to the cooking liquid.
- Bay leaves
- Add herbal aroma to the cooking liquid.
The step that matters
Cooking the fish in the boiling mixture. Fish proteins set quickly in hot liquid, so the flesh turns firm and dry and can break apart if it cooks too long at a hard boil. Watching the fish closely keeps it moist and intact.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wine, vinegar):
- Tomatofits better
- Shallotfits better
- Cucumberfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against wine, 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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