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Observations on Dressing Fish

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Observations on Dressing Fish

Ingredients

Directions

  1. If the fish is not cleaned, clean it thoroughly.

  2. For boiling, add salt and a little vinegar to the water.

  3. For better flavor, salt the fish and keep it for one day, or two days if it's not hot.

  4. Soak fresh water fish in strong saltwater to remove muddy smell.

  5. Put the fish in cold water and heat gently to avoid breaking the outside.

  6. For crimp fish, boil in water, then add cold water to reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes.

  7. For frying, wrap cleaned fish in a cloth, dry it, wet with egg, and sprinkle with bread crumbs.

  8. Heat lard or dripping until boiling, then fry the fish until light brown.

  9. Drain on blotting paper to remove excess grease.

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.

  1. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Horse + radishtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together529 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  3. Radish + parsleytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together120 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Vinegar + radishtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together508 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Radish + lemontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together174 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

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