Why it works: Potato and parsley 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 Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Poach the fish
Fill a fish kettle with water and add the coarse sea salt.
Place the kettle over high heat and bring the water to a boil.
Add the fish to the boiling water and let it boil hard for 20 minutes.
Carefully remove the fish from the kettle and place it on a serving dish.
Serve
Serve with egg sauce in a sauce boat and mashed potatoes on the side.
Garnish the dish with parsley.
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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Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Tea + potatotop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together136 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Fish + potatotop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together134 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Tea + fishtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together72 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Tea + parsleytop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together71 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fish
- Is the main protein, cooked gently in salted boiling water until it is firm and flaky.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the cooking water so the fish is lightly flavoured as it poaches.
- Egg sauce
- Adds richness and a creamy, slightly tangy contrast to the mild fish.
- Mashed potatoes
- Provides a soft, starchy base that soaks up the sauce and balances the fish.
The step that matters
Keep the water at a boil when the fish goes in, then time it. Adding fish to water that is not yet boiling, or letting the heat drop sharply, cooks it unevenly. A steady, rolling boil helps the fish cook through evenly while the flesh stays intact.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tea, fish, egg, sauce, potato):
- Capersfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Gingerfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against tea, fish, egg, sauce, potato. 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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