Name: Fresh Haddock in Tomato
Ingredients: 1 pound haddock; coarse sea salt; black pepper; flour; 1 small onion, sliced; strained tomato

Why it works: Pepper and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,923 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Fresh Haddock in Tomato

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Preheat your oven to 300°F (150°C).
Season the haddock with salt, pepper, and flour.

Bake

Place the haddock in an earthen dish and add the sliced onion.
Cover the fish with strained tomato.
Cook for 2 hours.

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.

Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,923 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,633 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Haddock + flourtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together401 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour + oniontop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together32,460 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Haddock: Forms the main body of the dish and becomes flaky and tender as it cooks gently.
Flour: Dusted on the fish to lightly coat its surface before cooking.
Onion: Adds savory sweetness and aroma as it softens under the tomato.
Strained tomato: Covers the fish and adds moisture, acidity, and body to the sauce.