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Potted Fish

Fish cured with salt and vinegar, baked under a dough crust with spices and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cider and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,431 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Potted Fish

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the fish

  1. Clean the fish thoroughly and cut it into small pieces.

  2. Soak the fish in coarse sea salt and cider vinegar for a few hours, then drain.

Layer and seal

  1. Layer the fish in a stone jar with spices and pieces of butter.

  2. Pour good cider vinegar over the fish and sprinkle with a little Cayenne pepper.

  3. Cover the jar with a crust of dough.

Bake and store

  1. Place in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) or in an oven after bread has been removed.

  2. After baking, remove the crust and cover the jar tightly.

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. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Cider + buttertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Cider + peppertop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,234 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Fresh firm fish
Forms the main body of the dish, its firm flesh holding shape through salting and baking.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, coating the fish as it bakes.
Cider vinegar
Adds acidity that firms the fish during soaking and brightens the flavour.
Dough for crust
Seals the jar so steam and juices stay in while the fish bakes.

The step that matters

Soaking the fish in salt and vinegar. Salt and acid firm and season the flesh. Soaking too briefly leaves the fish soft and bland, while soaking too long can make it overly salty and tough. Drain well before layering.

“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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