Name: Boiled Carp Soft-Roes
Ingredients: Carp roes; Cold water; Coarse sea salt; Vinegar; Fish consomme or general stock

Why it works: Roe and fish work together. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Boiled Carp Soft-Roes

Ingredients

Directions

Remove the roes from the fish and cleanse them of all blood.
Soak the roes in cold water until they are white, then drain.
Place the roes in a saucepan with cold salted water and a little vinegar.
Boil until cooked, then drain again.
Transfer the roes to fish consomme or general stock.

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.

Roe + fishtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together118 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Roe + vinegartop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together136 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Vinegar + fishtop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,036 recipes

Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).