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Potted Herrings

A preserved fish dish made by baking herrings in butter with spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Potted Herrings

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately quick oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the herrings

  1. Clean and scale the herrings.

  2. Wash the herrings twice. Dry the herrings with fresh cloths each time.

  3. Rub the herrings with Jamaica pepper, saltpetre, and common salt.

  4. Drain the herrings on a board for 12 hours.

  5. Wipe off the spice and salt from the herrings.

Season and bake

  1. Season the herrings with cloves, mace, nutmeg, and pepper.

  2. Place the seasoned herrings in an earthen pan.

  3. Cover the herrings with butter.

  4. Seal the pan with white and brown paper.

  5. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 3 hours.

Pot and set

  1. After cooling, drain the liquid.

  2. Pack the herrings in a potting pot with backs upwards.

  3. Smooth the surface to avoid cavities.

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. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  5. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Herrings
Form the main body of the dish, becoming tender and flaky during long slow baking.
Butter
Covers the fish to add richness and moisture while it bakes and sets.
Common salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the fish during the initial curing rub.
Saltpetre
Helps preserve the fish and keeps its colour during curing.
Nutmeg
Adds warm, aromatic flavour that complements the rich fish and butter.

The step that matters

Sealing and baking the pan. The paper seal and low, slow oven heat keep the fish moist and cook it gently so it does not dry out or split. Good sealing prevents the butter from evaporating.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, clove, nutmeg, butter):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Cardamomfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, clove, nutmeg, butter. 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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