Name: Fried Fish
Ingredients: pure oil for frying; fish, cleaned and prepared; 1 egg, beaten; bread crumbs

Why it works: Fish and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,668 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Fried Fish

Ingredients

pure oil for frying
fish, cleaned and prepared
1 egg, beaten
bread crumbs

Directions

Clean your frying pan and add enough oil to fully immerse the fish.
Heat the oil until it reaches a high temperature; test by dipping a piece of bread.
Once the oil is ready, dip the fish in the beaten egg, then coat with bread crumbs.
Carefully place the fish in the hot oil, ensuring it floats.
Fry for 2 to 3 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish.
Gently turn the fish with flat tongs to cook evenly.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,668 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Fish + eggtop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,782 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).