Name: Whitings, Fried
Ingredients: whitings; beaten eggs; fine bread-crumbs; cooking fat; parsley (for garnish)

Why it works: Egg and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 22,662 recipes. Both carry (e)-2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Whitings, Fried

Ingredients

Directions

Skin the whitings by holding the fish at the back of the head and loosening the skin with a small knife.
Pull the skin off sharply from both sides.
Turn the tail into the mouth and secure with a small wooden peg.
Dip each fish in beaten eggs and coat with fine bread-crumbs.
Fry the fish in heated fat until golden brown, about 15 minutes before serving.
Serve on a napkin garnished with parsley and offer sauces like Anchovy, Dutch, Shrimp, or Plain butter.

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.

Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,588 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Whiting + parsleytop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together330 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,765 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Whiting + breadtop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together190 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).