Name: Water Souchy of Perch, Flounders, Soles, Eels, &C.
Ingredients: skate or other fish; pump water; coarse sea salt; parsley roots; parsley; brown bread; butter

Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Water Souchy of Perch, Flounders, Soles, Eels, &C.

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

Boil skate or other fish in water until cooked.
Let the soup settle, then add boiling pump water seasoned with coarse sea salt.
When it boils, skim it clean.
Boil the fish for five minutes, then remove with a large skimmer.
Place the fish in a deep dish, sprinkle with cleaned and cut parsley roots and scalded parsley.
Serve hot with slices of brown bread and butter.

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.

Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,668 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,488 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together28,563 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Parsley + breadtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,588 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).