Why it works: Fish and olive work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 279 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓
Tinned Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Drain the tinned fish on a sieve to remove excess oil.
Select nicely sized pieces and place them on a dish.
Add your chosen garnish around the fish.
Serve
Serve the tartare sauce or mayonnaise separately in a boat, as cold as possible.
For a hot dish, gently warm the fish in a good matelote sauce or wrap in oiled paper and broil or fry for a couple of minutes.
Serve with a domestic hollandaise sauce.
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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Fish + olivetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together279 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Fish + saucetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,487 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sauce + olivetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,568 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tinned fish
- Provides the main flesh and flavour of the dish, served cold or gently warmed.
- Tartare sauce or mayonnaise
- Adds richness and moisture, offsetting the cold, lean fish.
The step that matters
Serve the tartare sauce or mayonnaise as cold as possible. Cold keeps the emulsion of mayonnaise or tartare sauce stable and thick. Warm sauce can separate, turn oily and lose its texture against the fish.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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