Why it works: Lemon and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,592 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Broiling Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Hang wet fish in a cool place for 1 hour before cooking.
Preheat the grill until hot but not burning.
Place fish on the grill with the thickest part over the hottest area.
Turn fish often to ensure even cooking and prevent dryness.
Remove bones from the fish and fill with fresh butter and a little salt.
Serve hot, optionally adding lemon juice or ketchup.
Dust fish with flour if in a hurry to prevent sticking.
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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Lemon + tomatotop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,592 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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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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Fish + tomatotop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together213 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hepten-3-one (metal).
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
Swap the lemon
The recipe marks lemon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, butter, flour, tomato):
- Coconutfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Avocadofits less well
- Plumfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, butter, flour, tomato. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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