Name: Observations on Dressing Fish
Ingredients: fish; salt; vinegar; egg; fine bread crumbs; lard or dripping; parsley; lemon; horse-radish

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 ↓

Observations on Dressing Fish

Ingredients

Directions

If the fish is not cleaned, clean it thoroughly.
Soak the fish in cold water with salt and vinegar for firmness.
For better flavor, salt the fish and keep it for one or two days.
To remove muddy smell from fresh water fish, soak it in strong salt water, then dry it.
For crimp fish, place it in boiling water, then add cold water to reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes.
Wrap the cleaned fish in a cloth, then wet it with an egg if frying.
Sprinkle fine bread crumbs over the fish.
Heat lard or dripping until boiling, then fry the fish until light brown.
Drain the fried fish on blotting paper.
Garnish with raw or fried parsley, and serve with lemon and horse-radish.

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.

Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,037 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Horse + radishtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together529 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
Parsley + radishtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together120 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Vinegar + radishtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together508 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Lemon + radishtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together174 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).