Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
Baked Mackerel
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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Sprinkle the cleaned fish with coarse sea salt.
Place bacon slices in the bottom of a dripping pan.
Lay the split fish on top of the bacon.
In a bowl, combine chopped bread, onion, black pepper, thyme, parsley, and melted butter.
Spread the dressing over the fish.
Bake
Bake for about 30 minutes.
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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Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,585 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Onion + thymetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,171 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mackerel
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooking through in the oven.
- Bacon
- Renders fat into the pan, moistening the fish from below as it bakes.
- Bread
- Forms a crumb dressing that absorbs butter and juices and holds its shape.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat to the dressing, carrying flavour and promoting gentle browning.
- Onion
- Adds savoury aroma and sweetness to the stuffing as it softens in the oven.
The step that matters
Spread the dressing over the fish. The dressing should be spread evenly so the fish stays moist and the crumbs brown uniformly rather than drying in patches.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, pepper, thyme, parsley, butter):
- Shallotfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Leekfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, pepper, thyme, parsley, butter. 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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