Name: Observations on Dressing Fish
Ingredients: fish; salt; vinegar; egg; bread crumbs; lard or dripping; parsley; lemon; horse-radish

Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Observations on Dressing Fish

Ingredients

Directions

If the fish is not cleaned, clean it thoroughly.
For boiling, add salt and vinegar to the water for firmness.
For better flavor, salt the fish and keep it for one to two days before cooking.
Soak fresh water fish in strong salt water to remove muddy taste, then dry.
For boiling, place fish in cold water and heat gently to avoid breaking.
For crimp fish, boil water, add fish, then cool with cold water and simmer for a few minutes.
For frying, wrap cleaned fish in a cloth, then wet with egg and sprinkle with bread crumbs.
Heat lard or dripping until boiling, then fry the fish until light brown.
Drain on blotting paper to remove excess grease.
Garnish with raw or fried parsley, and serve with lemon and horse-radish.

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.

Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,037 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Horse + radishtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together529 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
Parsley + radishtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together120 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Vinegar + radishtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together508 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Lemon + radishtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together174 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).