Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Fish Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the gravy
Remove the meat from the bones of the fish, and place the bones, head, and fins in a saucepan with the water.
Add salt, pepper, onion, and herbs, and simmer for about 2 hours to make gravy.
Make and cook the cake
Chop the fish finely and mix it with the bread crumbs, cold potatoes, parsley, and seasoning.
Form the mixture into a cake using the egg white, brush the top with beaten egg, and coat with bread crumbs.
Fry the cake until light brown.
Strain the gravy, pour it over the cake, and simmer gently for 30 minutes, stirring carefully once or twice.
Serve
Serve hot, garnished with thin slices of lemon and 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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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold fish
- Forms the bulk of the cake, providing the main flesh and flavour.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb moisture and bind the mixture, helping the cake hold its shape.
- Cold potatoes
- Mashed starch adds body and softness, helping bind the cake.
- Egg
- Binds the mixture together and forms a golden coating when brushed on top.
- Onion
- Adds savoury depth of flavour to the gravy as it simmers.
The step that matters
Fry the cake until light brown. The coating needs enough heat to brown and set without burning, so the crust forms while the inside stays moist and holds together.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, pepper, bread, potato, parsley, egg):
- Capsicumfits better
- Carrotfits better
- Chivefits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, pepper, bread, potato, parsley, egg. 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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