Name: Haddocks a LA Royale
Ingredients: 2 haddocks; quenelle force-meat of whiting; pepper; coarse sea salt; fillets of soles; pounded lobster-coral; truffles; bacon; buttered paper

Why it works: Haddock and whiting match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 103 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Haddocks a LA Royale

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Bone and stuff the haddocks with quenelle force-meat of whiting.
Place them head to tail on a baking sheet and season with pepper and coarse sea salt.
Bake the haddocks until cooked through.
Allow the haddocks to cool, then cover with a thin layer of quenelle force-meat.
Arrange fillets of soles on top in a slanting direction.
Mask the heads with force-meat mixed with pounded lobster-coral, and form eyes and mouth with truffles.
Cover the haddocks with thin layers of bacon and place a buttered paper over them.
About 45 minutes before serving, put the haddocks in the oven at 350°F (175°C) to finish baking.
Just before serving, remove the paper and bacon, absorb excess grease with a clean napkin.
Carefully transfer the haddocks to a serving dish and sauce them with Parisian sauce.

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.

Haddock + whitingtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together103 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Whiting + lobstertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together73 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Haddock + lobstertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together31 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Meat + truffletop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together527 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Meat + lobstertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together909 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).