Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Baked Garp with Spanish Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Prepare the Spanish Sauce by adding 1 teaspoon of sugar and using good stock instead of water to boil the vegetables.
Dress the carp for baking, placing it in a dripping pan with some vegetable scraps.
Season the carp with 1 teaspoon of salt and ½ teaspoon of pepper, then pour ½ cup of stock or gravy over it.
Bake and serve
Bake the carp at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
Strain some Spanish Sauce onto a serving dish.
Place the fish carefully on top of the sauce.
Arrange the Potatoes a la Royale around the fish.
Garnish with parsley.
Serve with additional Spanish Sauce in a sauce boat.
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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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Sugar + saucetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,147 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Sauce + parsleytop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,693 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Carp
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooked gently by baking in liquid.
- Stock or gravy
- Adds moisture and savory flavor as the fish bakes.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, pepper, sauce, parsley):
- Capsicumfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, pepper, sauce, parsley. 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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