Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
Fish Cake
Ingredients
Directions
Make the gravy
Remove the meat from the bones of the fish, placing the bones, head, and fins in a stewpan with the water.
Add salt, pepper, onion, and herbs, then simmer slowly for about 2 hours to make gravy.
Strain the gravy.
Form and fry the cake
Finely chop the fish and mix it with bread crumbs, cold potatoes, parsley, and seasoning.
Form the mixture into a cake using the egg white.
Brush the top with the beaten egg.
Coat with bread crumbs.
Fry the cake until light brown.
Finish and serve
Pour the gravy over the cake.
Simmer gently for 30 minutes, stirring carefully once or twice.
Serve hot, garnished with thin slices of lemon and parsley.
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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Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,585 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Parsley + potatotop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold potatoes
- Add body and softness, helping the cake hold moisture and stay tender inside.
- Bread crumbs
- Bind the mixture and form a crisp, golden coating when fried.
- Egg
- Binds the cake together and helps the beaten egg coating brown during frying.
- Fish
- Provides the main flavor and protein that sets firm when cooked.
The step that matters
Fry the cake until light brown. Frying sets the egg and crumb coating and builds browning flavor. Frying too hot can scorch the outside before the centre is heated through, while too little heat leaves the coating greasy and pale.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, parsley, thyme, pepper, bread, potato, egg):
- Carrotfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Chivefits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, parsley, thyme, pepper, bread, potato, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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