Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Baked Fish
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the fish
Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C).
Place the fish whole in a dripping pan and season with salt and pepper.
Make a thick paste with butter and flour, then spread it over the fish.
Bake and make the sauce
Bake for 1 hour or more, depending on the size of the fish.
In a saucepan, cream together ¼ cup butter and the egg yolk.
Add salt, pepper, lemon juice, and hot water, then bring to a boil.
Cook until the sauce thickens to a cream‑like consistency, then serve with the fish.
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 + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,488 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Fish + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,889 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Butter
- Enriches the flour paste and the sauce, adding richness and a smooth, creamy texture.
- All-purpose flour
- Thickens the butter paste so it coats the fish and holds its shape while baking.
- Egg yolk
- Emulsifies and thickens the sauce, giving it a cream-like consistency.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the rich butter sauce.
The step that matters
Cooking the sauce until it thickens. Egg yolk thickens when heated gently but can scramble if it boils too hard. Keep the heat moderate and stir constantly so the sauce becomes creamy rather than curdled.
“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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