Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Fish Sauces
Ingredients
Directions
Heat the water in a pan over medium heat, gently stirring occasionally.
Once the fish is tender, mix the flour with the butter until smooth.
Add the butter mixture to the pan bit by bit, shaking the pan to combine.
Boil for a few more minutes until the sauce thickens and coats the back of a spoon.
Taste the sauce; if it's too thin, reduce it further. Add thyme or bay leaf if desired.
Remove fish as it cooks, keeping it warm until all pieces are done.
Serve the fish in a pyramid shape with the sauce poured over.
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.
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + thymetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,721 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + thymetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,758 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the thyme
The recipe marks thyme as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour):
- Jalapenofits better
- Capersfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Thymethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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