Why it works: Pepper and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,814 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Baked Herrings
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the herrings
Do not wash the herrings unless necessary; empty them, remove heads, scrape off scales, and wipe them clean.
Split each herring along the back with a sharp knife, lay it open, cut it in half, and remove the bone starting from the head.
Roll each half into a firm roll, starting from the head.
Bake and serve
Place the rolls in a small pudding dish with the back side up, filling the dish.
Mix the water and vinegar, pour the mixture into the dish, and add the bay leaf, salt, and pepper.
Cover the dish with a plate and cook at the side of the fire or in the oven for 30 minutes.
Serve the herrings in the dish they were cooked in, either hot or cold.
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.
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Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Herrings
- Form the main body of the dish, becoming moist and tender as they cook gently in liquid.
- Vinegar
- Adds sharp acidity that balances the rich oils of the fish and helps flavour the liquid.
The step that matters
Cover the dish while cooking. The cover traps steam around the rolled fish so it cooks gently in the vinegar and water. Without it, the liquid evaporates faster and the herrings can dry out or cook unevenly.
“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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