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Herring Roe Savoury

A savory dish of herring roe served on fried bread with sautéed mushrooms and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Herring Roe Savoury

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Place the herring roes in boiling water with a pinch of salt for 1-2 minutes.

  2. Fry the mushrooms and season with pepper and salt.

Assemble and serve

  1. Place one mushroom on each piece of fried bread.

  2. Top the mushrooms with the herring roes and add a bit of fried parsley on each.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Mushroom + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

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

  3. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

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

  4. Mushroom + parsleytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,132 recipes

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

  5. Bread + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,588 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Herring roes
Provide the rich, creamy texture and savory flavor that define the dish.
Mushrooms
Add moisture and earthy savoriness when fried, softening and browning in the pan.
Fried bread or toast
Gives a crisp, absorbent base that holds the mushrooms and roe.

The step that matters

Poaching the herring roes. Roe is delicate and can overcook quickly, turning firm and grainy. Keeping the time brief in simmering water sets them gently while staying tender.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (roe, mushroom, pepper, bread):

  1. Thymefits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Marjoramfits about as well
  4. Garlicfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against roe, mushroom, pepper, bread. 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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