Name: Salt Mackerel
Ingredients: salt mackerel; cold water; 1 teaspoon vinegar; melted butter; lemon

Why it works: Butter and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,227 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Salt Mackerel

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Soak the salt mackerel in cold water overnight.

Cook and serve

In a pot, stew the fish in enough water to cover it for 15 minutes, adding 1 teaspoon of vinegar.
Serve hot with melted butter and lemon.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

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.

Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,227 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Vinegar + lemontop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,334 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Vinegar + buttertop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,513 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

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

What each ingredient does

Salt mackerel: Main protein, seasoned by curing and made tender by soaking and stewing.
Vinegar: Adds a small acidity that brightens the fish during stewing.
Melted butter: Adds richness and fat to balance the lean, salty fish.