Name: How to Boil Fish
Ingredients: 1 whole fish (cod, ling, or hake); Salt; Vinegar; Horseradish

Why it works: Vinegar and horseradish are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,609 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

How to Boil Fish

Ingredients

1 whole fish (cod, ling, or hake)
Salt
Vinegar
Horseradish

Directions

Fill a pot with water and add salt, vinegar, and horseradish.
Bring the water to a boil.
If boiling a whole fish, cut it into portions to ensure even cooking.
Place the fish in the boiling water and cook until done.
Keep the fish warm by placing it on a tin plate over the kettle, covered with a clean cloth.

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.

Vinegar + horseradishtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,609 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Fish + horseradishtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together178 recipes

Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Fish + vinegartop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,036 recipes

Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).