Why it works: Egg and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 44,316 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓
Entree of Smelts, &C
Ingredients
Directions
Clean and fry the fresh smelts until golden brown.
Boil the slice of cod for three parts of the cooking time.
Pull the boiled cod into flakes.
Whisk the egg yolks with the benshamelle.
Add the cod flakes, season with salt and lemon juice, and simmer until done.
Serve the dish with fried smelts arranged around it and some over the stew.
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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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Smelt + lemontop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together156 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Smelt + eggtop 38% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together174 recipes
Egg and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 44,316 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
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