Name: Baked Fish
Ingredients: 1 fish (about 5 pounds); 3 large or 5 small crackers; ½ pound salt pork; 2 tablespoons salt; ½ teaspoon pepper; ½ tablespoon chopped parsley; 2 tablespoons flour

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 ↓

Baked Fish

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the fish

If the fish has not been scraped, scrape and wash it clean.
Rub 1 tablespoon of salt into the fish.

Stuff and bake

Roll the crackers very finely and mix with parsley, 1 tablespoon of salt, and flour.
Stuff the mixture into the fish.
Place the fish in a baking dish and cover with salt pork.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) 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.

Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Fish + porktop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together668 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together16,675 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,121 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Fish + parsleytop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,341 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Crackers: Crushed crackers bind the stuffing and absorb juices, giving it a crumbly, moist texture.
Salt pork: Melting fat over the fish adds moisture and richness while it bakes.
Flour: Thickens the stuffing slightly so it holds together and does not run out.