Name: Fried Fish
Ingredients: whole fish, cleaned and prepared; Indian meal or wheat flour; 1 beaten egg; bread crumbs; hot lard or drippings

Why it works: Wheat and bread match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 209 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓

Fried Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Cut off the head and backbone of the fish, then slice the body into five or six pieces.
Dip the fish pieces in Indian meal or wheat flour, then in the beaten egg, and finally coat with bread crumbs.
Heat hot lard or drippings in a thick-bottomed skillet, placing the fish skin side up.
Fry slowly until light brown, then turn to brown the other side.
For a better result, dredge the fish in flour, brush with beaten egg, roll in bread crumbs, and fry in enough hot lard to cover them.
Once browned on both sides, let the fish drain before serving.
Serve with tomato sauce or slices of lemon.

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.

Wheat + breadtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together209 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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 + wheattop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together37 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Wheat + eggtop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,225 recipes

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