Name: Fillets of Haddocks Au Gratin a LA Hollandaise
Ingredients: 2 medium-sized haddocks; 1 pint good white stock; small handful stock-pot vegetables; bouquet of thyme, parsley, and bay leaf; white roux (for thickening)

Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Fillets of Haddocks Au Gratin a LA Hollandaise

Ingredients

2 medium-sized haddocks
1 pint good white stock
small handful stock-pot vegetables
bouquet of thyme, parsley, and bay leaf
white roux (for thickening)

Directions

Cut the fillets from the haddocks and place them on a dish.
Chop the bones (excluding the head) into small pieces.
Cover the bones with 1 pint of white stock and add the stock-pot vegetables and herb bouquet.
Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer gently for 1 hour.
Strain the stock and mix it with white roux until it reaches the consistency of double cream.
Gently boil the sauce until the butter rises to the surface, then carefully remove it along with any scum.

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.

Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,057 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Haddock + parsleytop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together456 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Haddock + thymetop 29% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together103 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).