Why it works: Flour and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,675 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
To Pry Small Fresh Haddocks
Ingredients
Directions
Clean and scrape the scales off the haddocks; cut off the fins and tails. You can remove the heads or leave them on.
Wipe the fish dry, rub them with the beaten egg yolk, and dust with flour.
Fry the haddocks in boiling lard or beef dripping until one side is brown, then turn them over.
Once cooked, place the haddocks on a sieve in front of the fire to drain.
Garnish with fried parsley.
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.
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Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Beef + parsleytop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,866 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Haddock + flourtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together401 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,765 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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 parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (haddock, egg, flour, beef):
- Capersfits better
- Turmericfits better
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against haddock, egg, flour, beef. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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