Why it works: Turmeric and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,776 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Tamarind Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fish
Split the fish down the back and remove the bone.
Score the fish and sprinkle with fine powdered salt.
Let it sit for 1-2 days.
Wash the fish and hang it out in the sun to dry.
Make the tamarind mixture
Dissolve acid tamarinds in vinegar and strain the liquid.
Pickle and cure
Cut the fish into small pieces and wrap them with the tamarind mixture, ensuring it is not too liquid.
Place the wrapped fish in a jar and cover it tightly.
Cut the fish into thick slices and sprinkle with salt.
Let it sit for 24 hours.
Wipe and dry it in the sun.
Pour vinegar over the dried fish.
Mix tamarind pulp with vinegar, turmeric, dried chillies, sliced ginger, and additional vinegar.
Pour this mixture over the fish and cover it.
Let it sit for 2-3 days before using.
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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Turmeric + gingertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,776 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,038 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Tamarind + turmerictop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together299 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Tamarind + gingertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together325 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Turmeric + clovetop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,876 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fish
- Salting and drying firm the flesh and reduce moisture, so the fish keeps and takes on the sour seasoning.
- Acid tamarinds
- Supply sourness and acidity that flavour the fish and help preserve it.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that helps preserve the fish and sharpens the sour flavour.
- Dried pounded chillies
- Provide heat and pungency to the finished fish.
- Sliced green ginger
- Adds aromatic, pungent flavour to the pickling mixture.
The step that matters
Drying the salted fish before adding the tamarind mixture. Salt draws out water and drying removes more of it. If the fish stays wet, the tamarind and vinegar mixture will dilute, the flesh may spoil, and the pickle will not keep well.
Swap the clove
The recipe marks clove as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, tamarind, vinegar, turmeric, ginger, garlic):
- Cuminfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Corianderfits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, tamarind, vinegar, turmeric, ginger, garlic. 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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