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Pickled Herrings

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 25% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,864 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Pickled Herrings

Oven, in the book's wordsA cool oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a cool oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

  1. Place a straight brown pan that allows the herrings to lay flat.

  2. Add a layer of spices and a layer of herring fillets, then sprinkle grated nutmeg, salt, and add a bay leaf.

  3. Repeat layering until the pan is full, pressing the herrings close together.

  4. Pour enough vinegar over the herrings to cover them.

  5. Cover the pan with a bladder or brown paper and set it in a cool oven at 300°F (150°C) for 12 hours.

  6. Remove from the oven and let the pan stand for 2 days before opening.

  7. Ensure the pan is thoroughly cold before opening.

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. Nutmeg + vinegartop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,864 recipes

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

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

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