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Cossack Method of Pickling Sturgeon

A method of pickling sturgeon using vinegar, salt, pepper, and clarified mutton fat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Fish and mutton work together. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 121 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Cossack Method of Pickling Sturgeon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Cut the sturgeon into chunks the same length as their thickness.

  2. Rub the fish with coarse sea salt and let it drain for several hours.

  3. Tie each piece of fish with thread.

Cook and make the jelly

  1. Boil the fish in equal parts vinegar and water with a generous amount of black pepper until fully cooked.

  2. Skim off the oil and let the fish cool to remove excess fat.

  3. Melt the jelly by heating the pot.

  4. Remove the fish from the pot and wipe the fish dry.

  5. Add more vinegar and black pepper.

  6. Boil the jelly until strong, optionally adding isinglass or fish parts for strength.

Pack and seal

  1. Pack the sturgeon into small casks.

  2. Pour the hot jelly over the fish in the casks.

  3. Once cooled, pour clarified melted mutton fat over the fish.

  4. Seal the cask.

  5. Pierce a hole in the head of the cask.

  6. Add more fat.

  7. Seal the cask once frozen.

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. Fish + muttontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together121 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  2. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  3. Sturgeon + fishtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Pepper + muttontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,442 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Pepper + fishtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,948 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Sturgeon
Is the main protein that is cooked and preserved in the jelly and fat.
Vinegar
Provides acidity that helps preserve the fish and sharpens its flavour.
Fish skins, carcasses, or bones
Release gelatin that helps the jelly set firm and strong.
Clarified mutton fat
Forms a sealing layer over the fish that limits contact with air.
Black pepper
Adds aromatic heat that flavours the fish and the jelly.

The step that matters

Boil the jelly until strong. Gelatin from fish skins, bones or isinglass sets the jelly firmly only when it is reduced enough. Too little boiling leaves a weak jelly that will not hold the fish or seal the cask well.

“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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