Why it works: Fish and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,668 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓
Fried Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fish
Clean, wash, and dry the fish.
Rub the fish with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Coat the fish
Roll the fish in a mixture of flour and cornmeal.
Dip the fish in beaten eggs mixed with water.
Roll the fish in dry bread crumbs.
Fry and serve
Fry the fish in very hot fat until golden brown.
Serve hot with Beurre Noir or sauce tartare.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
-
Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,668 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Fish
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooked through by frying.
- Flour
- Dry base layer that helps the coating adhere to the fish.
- Cornmeal
- Mixed with flour to give the coating a crisp, gritty texture.
- Eggs
- Act as a binder so the bread crumbs stick to the fish.
- Dry bread crumbs
- Form an outer layer that browns and turns crisp in the hot fat.
The step that matters
Fry the fish in very hot fat until golden brown. If the fat is not hot enough, the coating absorbs oil instead of crisping quickly, leaving the fish greasy and soggy. Very hot fat seals the crumb crust fast, so it browns evenly while the inside cooks through.
“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.
More fried fish recipes
You might also like
Brown Bread461 recipes
Fish Croquettes81 recipes
White Bread80 recipes
Scalloped Cod69 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.