Why it works: Parsley and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,765 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Steamed Halibut
Ingredients
Directions
Cover the halibut with a cloth and place it in a steamer.
Set the steamer over a pot of fast-boiling water and steam for 2 hours.
Transfer the halibut to a hot dish, garnish with parsley, and serve with egg sauce.
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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Parsley + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,765 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Parsley + saucetop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,693 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Egg + saucetop 39% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,895 recipes
Egg and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,895 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
What each ingredient does
- Halibut
- Is the main protein, cooked gently by steam so it stays moist and flakes into tender pieces.
The step that matters
Keep the water fast-boiling under the steamer. Steam only cooks food efficiently when the water is boiling vigorously and producing a steady supply of steam. If the water drops to a low simmer, the fish cooks slowly and unevenly, and the pot may need topping up with hot water to keep steam flowing for the full two hours.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sauce):
- Capersfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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