Name: Potted Fish
Ingredients: 2 pounds fish; 1 tablespoon allspice; 1 tablespoon cloves; coarse sea salt; cayenne pepper; sago; cider vinegar

Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Potted Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

Remove the backbone from the fish.
Mix allspice and cloves, and place in small muslin bags.
Sprinkle coarse sea salt directly on each fish.
Roll the fish in a cloth and sprinkle with cayenne pepper.

Pot and cover

In an earthen jar, layer fish, spice bags, and sago alternately.
Cover the layers with cider vinegar.

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.

Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,874 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Allspice + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,395 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,431 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
Allspice + vinegartop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,548 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

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

What each ingredient does

Fish: Forms the body of the dish, which is preserved by the salt and vinegar.
Cider vinegar: Acidity that helps preserve the fish and gives it a sharp flavour.
Coarse sea salt: Draws out moisture and seasons the fish, slowing spoilage.
Sago: Layered with the fish to help absorb moisture and keep the layers separated.

Swap the clove

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

Clovethe original
Thymefits about as well
Tarragonfits less well
Marjoramfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, allspice, pepper, 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.