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To Pickle Sturgeon

A method of pickling sturgeon in a brine of water, beer, salt, ginger, pepper, cloves, and Jamaica pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,038 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

To Pickle Sturgeon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Cut the sturgeon into desired pieces and wash it well.

  2. Tie the sturgeon with mats.

Make the pickle and cook

  1. In a pot, combine water, beer, coarse sea salt, common salt, ginger, black pepper, cloves, and Jamaica pepper.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil and add the sturgeon.

  3. Boil until the sturgeon can be easily removed from the bone.

  4. Remove the sturgeon and let it cool.

Finish and store

  1. The next day, add alegar and a little salt to the pot, then tie it down with strong paper.

  2. Store for future use.

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. Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,038 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Ginger + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Beer + gingertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together210 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  5. Beer + clovetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together284 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Sturgeon (in the method)
Is the main fish that is cooked and preserved in the brine.
Common salt
Seasons the brine and draws water out of the fish to help preserve it.
Strong beer
Adds malty depth and acidity to the pickling liquid.
Strong alegar
Adds sharp acidity that helps preserve the fish and gives the pickle its tang.
Black pepper
Adds pungent, warm spice to the brine.

The step that matters

Boil until the sturgeon can be easily removed from the bone. Cooking must be thorough enough that the flesh releases from the bone, but overcooking makes the fish dry and crumbly. Stopping at the right point keeps the texture firm and moist.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beer, pepper, clove):

  1. Allspicefits better
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Gingerthe original
  4. Cinnamonfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beer, pepper, clove. 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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