Name: Broiled Fish
Ingredients: Mackerel, bluefish, cod, or haddock; Salmon, halibut, or swordfish (cut in slices); Smelts (whole); Coarse sea salt; Black pepper; Softened butter; Parsley (for garnish); Lemon (for garnish)

Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Broiled Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Clean and dry the fish thoroughly.
Sprinkle the fish with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Grease a broiler and place the fish inside.
For whole fish, broil first on the flesh side, then turn and broil on the skin side until browned and crisp.
For slices, turn them often while broiling.
Remove the fish to a hot serving dish, spread with softened butter, and garnish with parsley and lemon.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,037 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Bluefish + smelttop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together28,563 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).