benefit is that it leaves the fish with a distinctive, almost fresh aroma Acid conditions cause heavy-smelling aldehydes, which accentuate the fishiness of TMA, to react with water molecules and become nonvolatile, so that lighter alcohols dominate the aroma Pickled herring and other fish can be surprisingly delicate As the recipe from Apicius shows (see box below), inhabitants of the Mediterranean region have been marinating fish for thousands of years The common modern term, escabeche and variants on it, derives from the Arabic sikbaj, which in the 13th century named meat and fish dishes with vinegar (acetic acid, p 772) added toward the end of the preparation Other acidic liquids were also used, including wine and verjuice, the juice of unripe grapes Fish and shellfish can be marinated in acid either raw or after an initial salting or cooking In northern Europe, for example, raw herring are immersed in marinade (3 parts fish to 2 parts of a 10% salt, 6% acetic acid mixture) for up to a week, at a temperature around 50ºF/10ºC; while for marinated Japanese mackerel (shimesaba) the fillets are first dry-salted for a day, then immersed in vinegar for a day In the case of precooked fish, the initial heat treatment kills bacteria and firms texture, so the subsequent marination is a milder one, and there is less development of texture and flavor Canned Fish Because canned fish keep indefinitely without refrigeration and in a handy package, this is the preserved fish that most of us eat most often In the United States, it is the most popular of all fish products: we consume more than a billion cans of tuna every year Fish and shellfish were first heated in a hermetically sealed container around 1810 by ... first dry-salted for a day, then immersed in vinegar for a day In the case of precooked fish, the initial heat treatment kills bacteria and firms texture, so the subsequent marination is a milder one, and there is less... development of texture and flavor Canned Fish Because canned fish keep indefinitely without refrigeration and in a handy package, this is the preserved fish that most of us eat most often In the United States, it is the most... In the United States, it is the most popular of all fish products: we consume more than a billion cans of tuna every year Fish and shellfish were first heated in a hermetically sealed container around 1810 by