Name: Potatoes and Creamed Fish
Ingredients: one tablespoonful of vinegar to two of oil; one-fourth teaspoonful of mustard; three drops of vinegar; one teaspoonful of salt; one pint of vinegar; one tablespoonful of sugar; one gallon is enough; a pint of oil; a dash of cayenne pepper; one egg; 40 exchange cook book; two eggs; one-half tea- spoonful of salt; two yolks of eggs ordinarily will take up about one-third of a pint of oil; one lemon; one table- spoonful of dry mustard; eight tablespoonsful of olive oil; eight eggs; salt; mustard; cayenne; pepper

Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. 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.

Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,067 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Lemon + olivetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,922 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Mustard + olivetop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,950 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Tea + lemontop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together610 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Fish (in the method): Forms the main body of the dish, flaked and held together by the moistening sauce.
Butter (in the method): Adds richness and a smooth, moist texture to the fish.
Milk (in the method): Moistens the flaked fish and helps form a creamy, cohesive mixture.
Egg yolk: Binds the moistened fish and adds richness to the mixture.
Egg white: Brushed on top, it helps the surface brown during baking.
Potatoes (in the method): Mashed into a wall around the fish, giving a soft, mild base and structure.

The step that matters

Brush the fish with beaten egg white slightly salted.. Egg white sets and browns in the oven, so an even coat gives a golden surface; too thick a layer can leave it greasy or uneven.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sugar, pepper, egg, tea, lemon, olive):

Capsicumfits better
Mustardthe original
Cucumberfits about as well
Spinachfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sugar, pepper, egg, tea, lemon, olive. 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
Olive Oil	1 tbsp (14g)	119
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Chili	1 tsp (2.7g)	8
Cayenne	1 tsp (1.8g)	6
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Vinegar	1 tbsp (15ml) distilled	3
Mustard	1 tsp (5g) yellow	3
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Potatoes and Creamed Fish