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 ↓
Red Mullets, with Maitre D' Hotel Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Remove the gills from the mullets and scale them lightly.
Cut off the fins, wash, and wipe the fish.
Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and Provence oil.
Grill
Place the fish on oiled paper over a slow fire on a gridiron rubbed with oil.
After 15 minutes, turn the fish onto another sheet of oiled paper and renew the fire.
When cooked, serve the fish on a plate with melted butter and glaze the top.
Serve additional sauce in a separate dish.
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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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Red mullets
- The main fish, whose delicate flesh cooks through quickly over a gentle fire.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, and melted over the fish it gives a glossy finish.
- Provence oil
- Coats the fish to keep it moist and helps the skin brown as it cooks.
The step that matters
Turning the fish onto fresh oiled paper. Turning the fish once at 15 minutes lets both sides cook evenly and keeps the delicate skin from tearing or sticking to the paper. Renewing the fire keeps the heat steady for the second side.
“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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