Why it works: Fish and sugar work together. They rank in the top 42% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 207 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
To Preserve
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Ensure the fish is perfectly fresh, then clean and dry it well.
Rub a little moist sugar and coarse sea salt over the throat, fins, and belly.
Cure and dry
Hang the fish in a cool place, wrapped in a cloth.
For drying, cut the fish into strips and rub with sugar and salt before hanging in the sun.
If kippering, mix a little saltpetre into the sugar before rubbing it on the fish.
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.
-
Fish + sugartop 42% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together207 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fish
- Is the main ingredient that is preserved by salting, drying, and curing.
- Sugar
- Adds a little sweetness and helps balance the saltiness of the cure.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws out moisture and preserves the fish by slowing spoilage.
The step that matters
Rub the salt and sugar in evenly. Salt draws water out of the flesh and into the surface, which slows bacterial growth. Missed or uneven spots can let the fish spoil while the rest preserves well, so coverage of the throat, fins, and belly matters.
“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.
You might also like
Fried Fish120 recipes
Fish Croquettes81 recipes
Scalloped Cod69 recipes
Broiled Fish68 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.