Name: Roast Halibut with Herb Butter
Ingredients: 4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature; 2 tsp. minced fresh flat-leaf parsley; 1 tsp. minced fresh thyme, plus 3 or 4 sprigs; 1 tsp. minced fresh chives; Finely grated zest of 1 lemon; Juice of 2 lemons; Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste; 1 large yellow onion, thickly sliced; 2 lb. halibut fillet, patted dry; 1 1/2 tsp. olive oil

Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

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.

Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,057 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,037 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Thyme + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,973 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Parsley + chivetop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,150 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, parsley, thyme, chive, lemon, pepper, olive):

Shallotfits better
Spinachfits better
Leekfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, parsley, thyme, chive, lemon, pepper, olive. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Halibut	100g cooked	140
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Chives	1 tbsp (3g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Roast Halibut with Herb Butter