Name: Boiled Fish
Ingredients: small fish; large fish or large pieces of fish; salt; parsley or lemon for garnish; table sauce

Why it works: Fish and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,341 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Boiled Fish

Ingredients

Directions

For small fish, place them in boiling salted water.
For large fish or large pieces, start in cold water and bring to a boil.
Cook until the flakes begin to separate or a fin can be easily pulled from the fish.
Serve on a folded napkin with a bowl of sauce or pour sauce over the fish.
Garnish with parsley or lemon.
If no fish-kettle is available, tie the fish in a cloth before boiling to prevent breaking.

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.

Fish + parsleytop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,341 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Fish + saucetop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,487 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Parsley + saucetop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,693 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).