Name: Sturgeon, Croquettes of
Ingredients: Sturgeon, cut into dice; Bechamel sauce; Mushrooms, cut into dice; Butter; Coarse sea salt; Bread crumbs; Parsley, for frying

Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Sturgeon, Croquettes of

Ingredients

Directions

Cut the sturgeon into small dice.
In a saucepan, combine bechamel sauce, diced mushrooms, a small lump of butter, and coarse sea salt.
Add the diced sturgeon to the sauce and mix well.
Let the mixture cool, then form into croquettes.
Dip the croquettes in bread crumbs.
Fry the croquettes until golden brown.
Serve with fried parsley in the center of the dish.

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.

Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Mushroom + breadtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,536 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Mushroom + parsleytop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,132 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Sturgeon + saucetop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together93 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sturgeon, sauce, mushroom, butter, bread):

Capersfits better
Parsleythe original
Thymefits about as well
Garlicfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sturgeon, sauce, mushroom, butter, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.