Why it works: Fish and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,948 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Baked Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wipe the fish slices dry with a clean towel.
Dip the fish in the beaten eggs seasoned with salt and pepper.
Roll the fish in cracker crumbs.
Fry and bake
Fry the fish in hot lard until brown.
Place the fried fish in a covered baking dish and bake for 20 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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Fish + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,948 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Fish + eggtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,782 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together50,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fish fillets
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooking through as it bakes.
- Eggs
- Bind the cracker crumbs to the fish so the coating holds during frying.
- Cracker crumbs
- Form a crisp, browned coating that protects the fish and adds texture.
- Lard
- Conducts heat for frying and helps the crumb coating brown.
The step that matters
Fry the fish in hot lard until brown. Frying in hot fat sets and browns the crumb coating quickly, so it stays crisp and holds together instead of soaking up grease or falling away during baking.
“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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