Name: Fried Fish
Ingredients: Oil for frying; Fish; Egg; Bread crumbs

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

Oil for frying
Fish
Egg
Bread crumbs

Directions

Heat enough oil in a deep sauté pan to cover the fish.
Test the oil by frying a small piece of bread until browned.
Add the fish to the hot oil and allow it to brown.
Once the surface is cooked, reduce the heat to finish cooking.
Lift the fish out using a tray and let the oil drain off.
Coat the fish in egg and then dip in bread crumbs before frying.

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.

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 pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,668 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Fish + eggtop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,782 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).