Name: Oil-Poached Halibut with Olives
Ingredients: 4 halibut, salmon or cod fillets, 1 1/2 lb. total, pin bones removed; Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste; 1 small bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley; 2 to 3 cups olive oil; 1 garlic clove; 1 bay leaf; 1 lb. red or white new potatoes, quartered; 2 Tbs. well-drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes; 6 to 8 Kalamata olives, pitted; 1 tsp. red wine vinegar, or to taste

Why it works: Olive and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. 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.

Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,539 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,665 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Garlic + potatotop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,517 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, pepper, parsley, olive, garlic, potato, tomato):

Thymefits better
Dillfits better
Basilfits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, pepper, parsley, olive, garlic, potato, tomato. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Salmon	100g cooked	208
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Halibut	100g cooked	140
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Olive	1 large (4g)	4
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Oil-Poached Halibut with Olives