Name: Boiled Red Snapper—Shrimp Sauce
Ingredients: 1 small red snapper; water; coarse sea salt; 1 tablespoon vinegar; 1 small onion; 4 cloves

Why it works: Onion and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,901 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

Boiled Red Snapper—Shrimp Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Scale and gut the red snapper, then chop off the fins.
Wash the fish and dry it with a cloth.
Half fill a large pan with water and add salt, vinegar, onion, and cloves.
Bring the water to a boil, then place the fish in the pan.
Cover with another pan to steam the fish until cooked through.

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.

Onion + clovetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together16,901 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,226 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Vinegar + clovetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,386 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Snapper + oniontop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together151 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Snapper + clovetop 33% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).