Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
To Pickle Fish
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the fish
Cut the cleaned fish into convenient pieces for packing in a jar.
Rub each piece with more salt than you would use for cooking.
Pack the jar
Cover the bottom of a stone jar with fish pieces.
Strew whole black pepper, allspice, a small piece of mace, a little cinnamon, and one clove over the fish.
Continue layering until the jar is nearly full.
Pour diluted cider vinegar over the fish until covered.
Bake and store
Tie a paper over the mouth of the jar and cover it with flour paste to seal in steam.
Bake the jar in the oven at 300°F (150°C) for three hours.
Let the fish cool before using.
It will keep in the pickle for six months in a cool, dry 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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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,536 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together17,451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
-
Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,395 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Shad, salmon, or haddock
- Forms the main body of the dish, with firm flesh that holds its shape during slow baking.
- Coarse sea salt
- Cures the fish by drawing out moisture and seasoning it through the flesh.
- Cider vinegar
- Adds acidity that preserves the fish and gives it a sharp, tangy flavor.
- Whole black pepper
- Adds a mild, warm spice that flavors the fish as it pickles.
The step that matters
Sealing the jar before baking. The paper and flour paste must seal the jar tightly so steam stays inside and the fish cooks evenly in its liquid rather than drying out in the oven.
Swap the cinnamon
The recipe marks cinnamon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, pepper, allspice, mace, clove, cider, vinegar):
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Cinnamonthe original
- Thymefits about as well
- Gingerfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, pepper, allspice, mace, clove, cider, 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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