Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Water-souchy
Ingredients
Directions
Make the broth
Boil 2 small fresh flounders in 1 quart of water until reduced to 1/3.
Strain the liquid through a sieve.
Finish the soucy
Remove the fins from 4 additional small flounders and add them to the strained liquid.
If desired, beat 1 or 2 egg yolks with a little soft water and add to the strained liquid before adding the fish.
Season with coarse sea salt, Cayenne pepper, and chopped parsley.
Boil just long enough for the fish to be cooked through.
Serve the fish with the sauce together.
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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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Parsley + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,765 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Pepper + eggtop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together50,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Pepper and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 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
- Flounders
- Provide the fish that flavours the broth and cook through to become the served dish.
- Egg yolks
- Optional addition that can thicken the sauce slightly and make it richer.
The step that matters
Boil just long enough for the fish to be cooked through. Boiling too long toughens fish protein and makes it dry and stringy, while stopping too early leaves it underdone. Gentle, brief cooking keeps the flesh tender.
“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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