Why it works: Olive and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 30,263 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Fried Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the thawed fish into pieces about 2 inches square.
Season flour or Indian meal with salt and pepper.
Roll the fish pieces in the seasoned flour or Indian meal.
Fry
Heat ½ cup of olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat until hot.
Fry the fish pieces in the hot oil until browned nicely.
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.
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Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,263 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Fish + olivetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together279 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Olive + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,871 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Fish + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,948 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fish
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooking through while the outside crisps.
- Flour or indian meal
- Coats the fish, helping it brown and form a crisp outer crust when fried.
- Olive oil
- Conducts heat to the fish surface, browning it and adding fat for flavour.
The step that matters
Fry the fish pieces in the hot oil until browned nicely. Oil must be hot before the fish goes in; a cool pan lets the coating absorb oil and turn greasy instead of crisp. Frying in batches keeps the pan temperature steady.
“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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