Why it works: Sauce and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,469 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Fresh Herring, Broiled
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Clean the herring as directed.
Grease a grill well and place it over a good fire.
Broil and serve
When warm, lay the herring on the grill and broil gently, turning them over two or three times.
Place the herring on a dish, sprinkle with coarse sea salt, and serve.
Optionally, spread caper, maitre d'hotel, piquante, or tomato sauce on them before serving.
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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Sauce + tomatotop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,469 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fresh herring
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooked whole over the grill.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the cooked fish and adds a crisp contrast to its soft flesh.
- Caper sauce
- Adds a sharp, tangy flavour that balances the richness of the fish.
- Maitre d'hotel sauce
- Adds a herbed, buttery flavour that complements the grilled fish.
- Piquante sauce
- Adds a sharp, piquant flavour that contrasts with the fish.
- Tomato sauce
- Adds acidity and sweetness that brighten the grilled fish.
The step that matters
Broil gently over a good fire, turning two or three times. Grilling over steady, moderate heat cooks the flesh through while the skin browns and holds together. Too fierce a fire chars the outside before the centre sets, and turning too often tears the fish from the grate.
“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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