Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓
Halibut Stewed
Ingredients
Directions
In a stewpan, combine fish broth, vinegar, mushroom ketchup, anchovy, onions, sweet herbs, garlic, and water.
Bring to a simmer and let it stew for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Strain the mixture to remove solids.
Add the head and shoulders of halibut to the strained broth and stew until tender.
Thicken the stew with butter and flour before serving.
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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Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together29,058 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Ketchup + anchovytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together479 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Mushroom + garlictop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,700 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Fish + anchovytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together637 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Clove + garlictop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,368 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, vinegar, mushroom, ketchup, anchovy, onion, garlic):
- Capersfits better
- Thymefits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, vinegar, mushroom, ketchup, anchovy, onion, garlic. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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