Name: Boiled Pike, Parsley Sauce
Ingredients: 1 pike; coarse sea salt; parsley sauce (see below); potatoes

Why it works: Parsley and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,855 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Boiled Pike, Parsley Sauce

Ingredients

1 pike
coarse sea salt
parsley sauce (see below)
potatoes

Directions

Prepare and cook

Scale and clean the pike, removing the head.
Boil the pike for 20 to 40 minutes, depending on its size.

Serve

Serve the pike with a fish spoon, topped with parsley sauce, and potatoes on the same plate.

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 + potatotop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,855 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Parsley + saucetop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,693 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sauce + potatotop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,073 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Pike: The main fish, cooked whole by boiling until its flesh turns opaque and flakes.
Potatoes: Starchy side that absorbs flavour and balances the mild, lean fish on the plate.