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Baked Fish and Chips

Baked fish fillets coated in almond-breadcrumb mixture served with sweet potato and parsnip fries.

By Health Canada · From Canada's Food Guide · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Sweet potato and parsnip share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 95 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4
Oven220 °C (425 °F)

Ingredients

Contains: egg, wheat, tree nuts, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Prepare the fries

  1. Preheat the oven to 220 °C (425 °F).

  2. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

  3. Combine sweet potato and parsnip strips in a large bowl.

  4. Add oil and chili powder.

  5. Toss to coat evenly and spread in a single layer onto 1 prepared baking sheet.

  6. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until potatoes and parsnips are tender.

Prepare the coating

  1. Place almonds in the middle of a clean kitchen towel and wrap into a bundle.

  2. Using a meat mallet or rolling pin, crush almonds until finely crushed.

  3. Pour almonds into a large plate or tray and mix with whole grain breadcrumbs and oregano.

  4. In another plate, whisk together egg with water to create an egg wash.

  5. In a third plate, mix flour together with paprika.

Bread and bake the fish

  1. Cut each fish fillet in half and season with salt (optional) and black pepper.

  2. To bread the fish, coat with flour and shake off any excess.

  3. Dip into egg wash and place into seasoned almond and breadcrumb mixture.

  4. Press down gently to adhere crumb coating.

  5. Place fish onto the second prepared baking sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.

  6. Use a digital food thermometer to check that fish has reached an internal temperature of 70 °C (158 °F).

  7. Serve with lemon wedge.

By Health Canada. Recipe from Canada's Food Guide.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Sweet potato + parsniptop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together95 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Oregano + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Almond + flourtop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together8,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Sweet potato + wheattop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together59 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Almond + wheattop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together264 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-methylbutanol (malty, whiskey).

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

What each ingredient does

Sweet potato
Becomes tender and lightly caramelized in the oven, adding starch and natural sweetness to the fries.
Parsnips
Soften during baking and add sweetness and earthy flavor to the fries.
Whole almonds
Crushed into the coating, they add crunch and nutty flavor that helps the crust brown.
Whole grain breadcrumbs
Form the crisp outer layer that gives the fish structure and a golden, crunchy finish.
Egg
Acts as a binder so the crumb coating sticks evenly to the fish.
Tilapia fillets
The main protein; it cooks through in the oven inside its crisp coating.

The step that matters

Check the fish with a thermometer. Thin fillets can dry out or stay undercooked, and their appearance alone is unreliable. Checking the internal temperature confirms the fish is cooked through while keeping it moist.

Flavor stand-ins for the oregano

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sweet potato, parsnip, almond, egg, wheat, flour, pepper):

  1. Cinnamonbetter flavor fit
  2. Cardamombetter flavor fit
  3. Nutmegbetter flavor fit
  4. Oreganothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sweet potato, parsnip, almond, egg, wheat, flour, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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.

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