Name: Tomato-Fish Cossack Stew
Ingredients: 2 onions, chopped; 2 garlic clove, minced; 1 tbsp oil; 36 tomato, peeled; -or; 16 oz canned stewed tomatos; 8 oz tomato sauce; 1 potatoes; 2 tbsp dill freshly chopped; 1 tsp thyme leaves; 1 tbsp lemon juice fresh; 3 bay leaves; 1/4 tsp black pepper; 1 tbsp parsley, chopped; 2 lbs fish, boneless & cubed ½"

Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. 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.

Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together29,058 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
Dill + thymetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together164 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).
Clove + thymetop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together4,108 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Potato + dilltop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together423 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,076 recipes

Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

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 becomes tender as it cooks briefly in the broth.
Tomatoes (in the method): Supply liquid, acidity and body that form the base of the stew.
Potatoes: Add starch that thickens the broth slightly and gives the stew substance.
Onions: Build sweetness and savory depth as they soften in the oil.
Lemon juice: Adds brightness and acidity that lifts the flavor of the fish and tomatoes.

The step that matters

Adding the fish at the end. Fish is delicate and overcooks quickly, becoming dry and firm. Adding it last and simmering only 3-5 minutes keeps it moist and tender.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, garlic, tomato, sauce, potato, dill, thyme):

Parsleyfits better
Cuminfits better
Oreganofits better
Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, garlic, tomato, sauce, potato, dill, thyme. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Salmon	100g cooked	208
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Tomato	1 medium (123g)	22
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Clove	1 tsp ground (2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Garlic	1 clove (3g)	4
Dill	5 sprigs fresh (1g) / 1 tsp dried	4
Thyme	1 tsp dried (1.4g)	4
Bay Leaf	1 leaf (0.6g)	2
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1

Tomato-Fish Cossack Stew