Why it works: Parsley and pepper 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 ↓
Plain Fish Soup
Ingredients
Directions
Melt the margarine in a pot.
Add the flour and cook for a few minutes until well combined.
Gradually add the fish stock while stirring until boiling.
Boil well, then add the milk and any pieces of fish from the head.
Pour into a heated tureen with parsley at the bottom.
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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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Fish + milktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,432 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Fish + parsleytop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,341 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Margarine
- Melts to form the fat base for the roux.
- Flour
- Cooked with the fat to form a roux that thickens the soup.
- Fish stock
- Forms the liquid base of the soup.
- Milk
- Adds richness and a creamy body to the soup.
The step that matters
Adding the stock to the roux. Pouring the liquid in gradually while stirring keeps the flour evenly dispersed, so the soup thickens smoothly instead of forming lumps.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, flour, milk, pepper):
- Cardamomfits about as well
- Turmericfits about as well
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, flour, milk, pepper. 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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