Name: Deviled Fish
Ingredients: Any kind of fish; Vinegar; Catsup or stock sauce; Horseradish or mustard sauce; Curry powder (optional)

Why it works: Vinegar and horseradish are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,609 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Deviled Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Soak the fish in vinegar, catsup, or stock sauce for 30 minutes.
Drain the fish and boil it.
Serve with horseradish or mustard sauce.
Optionally, roll the fish in curry powder before serving.

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.

Vinegar + horseradishtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,609 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sauce + horseradishtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together775 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Fish + horseradishtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together178 recipes

Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Fish + saucetop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,487 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Fish + vinegartop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,036 recipes

Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).