Name: Haddock on Toast
Ingredients: 7 eggs; Slices of bread; 1 teaspoon finely chopped parsley; 1 lb smoked haddock; 2 oz butter; Pepper; Coarse sea salt

Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Haddock on Toast

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.

Scald the haddock, place it on a baking sheet, and spread 1 oz of butter over it.
Cook in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 10 to 15 minutes.
Remove the flesh from the bones and skin, then chop it finely.
Add pepper and salt to taste.
Melt the remaining 1 oz of butter in a saucepan and lightly fry the haddock.
Cut the slices of bread into shapes and fry them.
Top each piece of bread with a little haddock, then decorate with chopped boiled egg and parsley.
Cut the toast into rounds, spread a little butter on each round.
Wash and dry the anchovies, fold them, and place one on each round of toast.
Chop the egg white and rub the yolk through a sieve.
On each anchovy, add a little chopped egg white, then a bit of yolk.
Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve cold.

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.

Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together28,563 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,588 recipes

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