Name: Fish Pudding:
Ingredients: cold fish; 2 cups potatoes; salt; pepper; a few grains cayenne pepper; 2 tablespoons butter, melted; 1 egg

Why it works: Potato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Fish Pudding:

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Butter a mold thickly and coat with bread crumbs.

Mix and fill

Mash the cold fish and mix with potatoes, salt, pepper, cayenne, melted butter, and egg.
Fill the mold with the mixture.

Bake

Place a small piece of butter on top and bake for 16 minutes.

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.

Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,305 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,488 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,456 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Fish + potatotop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together134 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold fish: Forms the main body of the pudding and gives it its flavor.
Potatoes: Add starch and bulk, helping the pudding hold together with a soft texture.
Egg: Binds the mixture so it sets firm when baked.
Butter: Adds richness and moisture, and browns on the surface in the oven.