Name: Tamakind Fish
Ingredients: any quantity of fish; fine powdered salt; acid tamarinds; vinegar

Why it works: Tamarind and vinegar work together. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 165 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Tamakind Fish

Ingredients

any quantity of fish
fine powdered salt
acid tamarinds
vinegar

Directions

Split the fish down the back and remove the bone.
Score the fish as you would for crimping.
Sprinkle fine powdered salt over the fish and let it sit for 1-2 days.
Wash the fish and hang it out in the sun to dry.
Dissolve acid tamarinds in vinegar and strain the liquid.
Cut the fish into small pieces and wrap them with the tamarinds, ensuring it's not too liquid.
Place the wrapped fish in a jar or vessel and cover it tightly.
Alternatively, cut the fish into slices about ½ to ¾ inch thick.
Sprinkle the slices with clean salt, turning occasionally to drain the juice.
After 24 hours, dry the fish in the sun.
Sprinkle the fish with vinegar before adding the boiled tamarinds in 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.

Tamarind + vinegartop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together165 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Fish + tamarindtop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Fish + vinegartop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,036 recipes

Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).