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Pickled Sturgeon

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Allspice and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,620 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Pickled Sturgeon

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Remove the backbone from the sturgeon and wash it, changing the water several times.

  2. Soak the sturgeon in salt water for 24 hours, then drain and soak in fresh salt water for another 12 hours.

  3. Tie the sturgeon with a cord and boil it in weak salt water until a straw can pass through it, skimming off any oil while boiling.

  4. Strain the boiling liquid and return it to the pot. Add crushed allspice, black pepper, and ginger, and boil briefly.

  5. Add vinegar to the boiling liquid to taste, then let it cool before adding the sturgeon.

  6. Ensure the liquid covers the sturgeon; add more vinegar if necessary.

  7. Cover the vessel tightly and store it in a cool 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. Allspice + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,620 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Pepper + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Allspice + vinegartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  5. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sturgeon, allspice, pepper, vinegar):

  1. Clovefits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sturgeon, allspice, pepper, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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