Name: Fish Soup, with Potatoes
Ingredients: 2 quarts fish broth; 4 pounds mealy potatoes, grated; 2 large eggs, well beaten; 1 cup heavy cream; Salt, to taste; Nutmeg, to taste; Milk (optional, to substitute for some broth); Klosse or toasted bread, for serving

Why it works: Potato and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,052 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Fish Soup, with Potatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish broth as directed for fish soup and strain it.
Grate the potatoes and add them to the strained broth.
Mix in the beaten eggs and heavy cream.
Season with salt and nutmeg to taste.
If desired, substitute some broth with milk and omit the cream.
Serve with klosse or toasted bread.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Potato + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,052 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,611 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,668 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,466 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,920 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, egg, cream, nutmeg, milk, bread):

Potatothe original
Asparagusfits about as well
Leekfits about as well
Spinachfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, egg, cream, nutmeg, milk, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.