Why it works: Fish and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and 4,488 recipes mention both. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Filets De Soles Au Gratin
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare 2 sole fillets of equal length.
Make a stuffing with merlan fish and spread a ½ cm layer on each side of the fillet where the skin was removed.
Fold the fillets in half and place a layer of stuffing in a baking dish to hold the fillets.
Layer the fillets in the dish, separating them with more stuffing.
Form two equal crowns with the fillets and place a piece of bread in the center, covered on both sides with butter paper to maintain the shape while cooking.
Wrap the crowns with 2 strips of butter paper and tie them.
Poach in the oven until the fillets are cooked, then remove the strings and bread.
Drain any excess butter from the dish, sauce with Italian sauce, and serve.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together4,488 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Fish + saucetop 20% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together1,487 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter and sauce share little aroma chemistry, yet 15,338 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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