Why it works: Pepper and garlic are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,090 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Fillet of Sturgeon , and Sauce Royal
Ingredients
Directions
Remove the skin from the sturgeon and cut it into long slices.
Make a farce by mixing a part of the sturgeon with bacon, herbs, soaked roll, and beaten egg white.
Season the mixture with pepper, salt, and a little garlic.
Spread the farce on the sturgeon slices and roll them up.
Cook the rolled sturgeon as you would fillet of sole.
Serve with sauce on the 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.
-
Pepper + garlictop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,090 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Sturgeon + creamtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together26 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octene-3-one (sweet, fruity).
-
Sturgeon + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together100 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Cream + garlictop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,081 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
-
Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together21,449 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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 garlic
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sturgeon, cream, egg, pepper):
- Nutmegfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Celeryfits better
- Garlicthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sturgeon, cream, egg, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.