Why it works: Fish and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,668 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓
Fried Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fish
Clean the fish.
For smelts, squeeze out entrails carefully without bruising the fish.
Wash the fish quickly.
Dry the fish.
Season the fish with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Coat the fish
Dredge the fish in flour.
Dip the fish into the beaten egg.
Roll the fish in fine bread or cracker crumbs.
Repeat the crumb coating if not fully covered.
Fry and serve
Heat the fat until a crumb of bread browns in half a minute.
Fry the fish until golden brown.
Drain the fish thoroughly before serving.
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.
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Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,668 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Eggs
- Binds the flour and crumbs to the fish so the coating holds during frying.
- Bread or cracker crumbs
- Form a crisp, browned coating when fried in hot fat.
- Flour
- Dries the surface and gives the egg a base to cling to for an even coating.
- Cod or halibut
- Firm white fish whose flesh holds its shape through frying.
The step that matters
Heat the fat until a crumb browns in half a minute. If the fat is not hot enough, the coated fish absorbs oil and turns greasy and soggy instead of crisp. Testing with a crumb shows when the fat is ready before the fish goes in.
“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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