Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Sturgeon Steaks
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the sturgeon into steaks as you would for cutlets.
Dredge the steaks in flour.
Cook and serve
Fry the steaks until nicely cooked.
Serve immediately to prevent them from getting cold.
Pour melted butter over the steaks and sprinkle with chopped parsley.
Garnish with fried parsley.
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.
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
-
Sturgeon + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together237 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
-
Sturgeon + parsleytop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together137 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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
- Sturgeon steaks
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooking to a firm, flaky texture.
- Flour
- Forms a thin coating that helps the steaks brown while frying and holds in moisture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a silky finish when poured over the hot steaks.
The step that matters
Fry the steaks until nicely cooked. Fish cooks quickly and becomes dry and tough if overcooked. Frying over steady heat until the flesh turns opaque and flakes easily keeps it moist while the flour coating browns.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sturgeon, flour, butter):
- Capersfits better
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Thymefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sturgeon, flour, butter. 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.
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