Name: Fish Dinner
Ingredients: 12 ounces fresh fish or 6 ounces dried fish; 1 pound potatoes; 6 ounces bread (with Rate III. diet) or 8 ounces bread (with Rate IV. diet)

Why it works: Fish and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,668 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Fish Dinner

Ingredients

12 ounces fresh fish or 6 ounces dried fish
1 pound potatoes
6 ounces bread (with Rate III. diet) or 8 ounces bread (with Rate IV. diet)

Directions

Prepare the fish by cleaning and cooking it as desired.
Boil or steam the potatoes until tender.
Serve the fish with the cooked potatoes and bread.

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.

Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,668 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Fish + potatotop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together134 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Potato + breadtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together434 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Fish: Provides the main protein and the substance of the meal.
Potatoes: Supply starch and bulk, becoming soft and filling when boiled or steamed.
Bread: Adds a starchy side that rounds out the meal alongside the fish and potatoes.