Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Pickled Herring
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the herring
Remove herrings from brine, split them down the back, and soak in cold water overnight.
In the morning, clean the herrings and cut them into ½-inch strips.
Pickle and serve
In a deep dish, combine the herring strips and sliced onions.
Season with pepper and brown sugar.
Pour enough vinegar over the mixture to cover it.
Let sit for at least a few hours before serving; it will keep for a week or more in a cool place.
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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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,226 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Sugar + vinegartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,806 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Pepper + sugartop 32% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,401 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Pepper and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,401 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Herring
- Forms the main body of the dish and carries the flavour of the pickle.
- Vinegar
- Acidity that firms and preserves the fish while flavouring the mixture.
- Onions
- Add sharp, sweet aroma and crunch that balance the rich fish.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness that rounds out the sharpness of the vinegar.
The step that matters
Covering with vinegar and letting it sit. The herring must be fully submerged in vinegar so the acid can penetrate and firm the flesh. Resting for hours lets the flavours meld and the fish become safely acidic for storage.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, sugar, vinegar):
- Capsicumfits better
- Mustardfits better
- Cabbagefits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, sugar, 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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