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 ↓
Halibut Cutlets
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the halibut into cutlets about 3 inches in diameter and 1 inch thick, trimming them neatly and removing skin and bone.
Dip each cutlet in dissolved butter, then in beaten egg yolk, and cover with seasoned bread crumbs.
Fry and serve
Fry the cutlets in oil or butter until light brown.
Drain and dry the cutlets before serving.
Serve piled on a dish with shrimp sauce or plain melted butter and sliced lemon.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + shrimptop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,931 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Halibut
- Forms the main body of the cutlet, cooking into flaky, tender pieces.
- Egg yolk
- Binds the bread crumbs to the fish so the coating stays on during frying.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden coating that browns in the hot fat.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavour to the coating and helps it brown during frying.
The step that matters
Fry until light brown, then drain and dry. Fish is delicate and cooks quickly, so over-frying dries the flesh. Draining and drying removes surface fat and moisture so the coating stays crisp rather than soggy.
“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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