Name: Fried Fish
Ingredients: small fish; 1 beaten egg; bread crumbs; Olive Butter (or olive oil)

Why it works: Bread and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,091 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Fried Fish

Ingredients

small fish
1 beaten egg
bread crumbs
Olive Butter (or olive oil)

Directions

Make a slight opening at the gills of the fish.
Draw the insides out by pressing between your thumb and finger, starting at the tail.
Dip the cleaned fish in the beaten egg.
Coat the fish in bread crumbs.
Fry the fish in a pan of boiling Olive Butter, ensuring there is enough oil to float them.
Remove the fish when they are dry and free from grease.

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.

Bread + olivetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,091 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,668 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Fish + olivetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together279 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Fish + eggtop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,782 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).