Now I'm going to shake the braces and encroach on the sacred. On Pokhlebkin, our William, who, as you know, is the alpha and omega of Russian (and not only) cooking. There is still an opinion (not among everyone, of course) that if Pokhlebkin wrote something, then this is the ultimate truth, so be it. Not subject to appeal. And if you didn’t write it, then it won’t be like this forever!
Hmm... Without belittling his merits, which, of course, are great, I still venture to say: Pokhlebkin did very a lot in order to popularize YOUR tastes, and not “high gastronomy”, if possible express yourself.
And one of the respected readers prompted me to this idea, who said that we do not use garlic in fish. Not in any recipe, not in any cookbook.
To be honest, I didn't really think about this issue. But then I remembered a long-standing discussion of the compatibility of fish and garlic, back in the early 2000s, in LiveJournal. And it once began with the fact that it was Pokhlebkin who, in combination with fish, somewhere called “an illiterate combination” (but he mentioned such dishes and gave recipes.
Meanwhile, fish and garlic are a classic combination, one might say.
Matlot always contains garlic. Brandada - a fish dish originally from Provence - with garlic. Buaybes - with garlic.
These are just the recipes that I offhand remembered. If you go through records, recipes, publications, books, there will be a great many fish dishes with garlic. Is it possible to consider them all - bad, unsuitable, illiterate?
As for me - no.
There are many interesting things in Pokhlebkin's books, but this interesting thing is by no means indisputable. Compare, for example, the recipe in the source, mentioned just by Pokhlebkin, and his own version.
This is the same book by the Cambodian princess that he mentions.
And this is a recipe already adapted by Pokhlebkin
Someone will say that Pokhlebkin literally “chewed” the recipe for those who are not familiar with nm, but questions still arise. Why is poultry skin used for broth, for example? It doesn't add flavor, just fat. Or why throw away the shrimp shells, and lay the shrimp themselves BEFORE cabbage, although they will be ready almost immediately, and such a long cooking will give little to the soup and spoil the shrimp?
Why did I write all this?
And besides, it cannot be argued that there is one and only correct opinion in cooking. There are always many options. And if someone cooks fish with garlic - yes to health, you should not say that only onions with it are acceptable, only hardcore ...