Name: Baked Herrings
Ingredients: 4 Fresh Herrings; ½ cup Vinegar; ½ cup Water; 8 Peppercorns; 1 teaspoon Salt; 2 Cloves; 1 teaspoon Pepper

Why it works: Clove and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Baked Herrings

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Clean the herrings and remove the back bone.
Season with salt and pepper.
Roll them up and place in a pie dish.

Bake

Pour the vinegar and water over the herrings.
Add the cloves and peppercorns.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 25 minutes.

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.

Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together17,451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Vinegar + clovetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,386 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Herrings: Form the main protein that is rolled, seasoned and softened during baking.
Vinegar: Adds acidity that gives the fish a sharp, tangy flavour and helps firm its flesh.
Water: Dilutes the vinegar and provides liquid so the fish bakes moist rather than drying out.

The step that matters

Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 25 minutes. Fish cooks quickly and dries out if overbaked. Keeping the oven moderate and the time within the stated 25 minutes lets the flesh turn opaque and tender while staying moist in the vinegar liquid.