Name: Fish Preserved
Ingredients: pieces of fish; powdered turmeric; coarse sea salt; molten butter; powdered garam masala; pepper

Why it works: Turmeric and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,478 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Fish Preserved

Ingredients

Directions

Wash the fish and wipe them with a clean cloth.
Smear the fish with powdered turmeric and coarse sea salt.
Fry the fish in molten butter and remove as many bones as possible.
Mix molten butter, coarse sea salt, powdered garam masala, and pepper to form a paste.
Combine the paste with the fish pieces.
Store the fish in an airtight container in a dry, cool cellar for preservation.

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.

Turmeric + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,478 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,488 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Fish + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,948 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Fish + turmerictop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together194 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).