Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Boiled Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the fish
Place fish in cold water, adding plenty of coarse sea salt and vinegar.
Simmer on the fire in pans or fish kettles until tender.
Remove fish when cooked.
Make the sauce
In a separate pot, bring water and milk to a boil.
Thicken the mixture with cornstarch or flour.
Chop parsley and add it with pepper to the sauce.
Pour the sauce over the fish and serve.
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.
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Fish + milktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,432 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,814 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Milk
- Adds richness and a creamy body to the sauce.
- Cornstarch or flour
- Thickens the liquid into a smooth, coating sauce as it heats.
- Vinegar
- Adds a sharp acidity that brightens the flavor of the fish and sauce.
The step that matters
Thicken the sauce after it boils. Starch needs to be heated in liquid to swell and thicken; adding it to cold or barely warm liquid leads to lumps and a thin sauce. Keep the liquid simmering while stirring so the starch dissolves evenly.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, vinegar, milk, flour, pepper):
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Turmericfits about as well
- Cardamomfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, vinegar, milk, flour, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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