Name: Bajan Salt Fish Cake
Ingredients: 2 tbsp oil; 1 cup onions, finely chopped; 1 cup flour; 1 tsp baking powder; Salt to your taste; 1 egg lightly beaten; ¾ cup milk; 1 tbsp butter, melted; 2 tbsp eschalots (finely chopped); ½ lb, salted cod fish, cooked and flaked; 1 large fresh hot pepper ( finely chopped)

Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. 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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Butter + fishtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,488 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk + fishtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,432 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Flour: Forms the main structure of the batter once combined with liquid and egg.
Baking powder: Releases gas in the batter so the cakes rise and become light.
Egg: Binds the batter and helps hold the cakes together while frying.
Milk: Adds moisture to the batter, loosening it for a tender crumb.
Salted cod fish: Provides the main savoury flavour and protein throughout the cakes.

The step that matters

Do not crowd the pan. Adding too much batter at once lowers the oil temperature, so the cakes absorb grease and cook unevenly instead of browning crisply.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, milk, butter, fish, pepper):

Potatofits better
Capsicumfits better
Asparagusfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, milk, butter, fish, pepper. 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
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Salmon	100g cooked	208
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Bajan Salt Fish Cake