Name: Fish Toast
Ingredients: 1 lb cold fish, finely chopped; 2 slices buttered toast; 2 oz butter, melted; 1 tablespoon chopped parsley; 1 tablespoon anchovy paste; Salt, to taste; Pepper, to taste; Cayenne, to taste; Ground mace, to taste

Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Fish Toast

Ingredients

Directions

In a pan, combine the chopped fish, melted butter, parsley, anchovy paste, and seasonings.
Stir over gentle heat until thoroughly hot.
Serve the mixture on the buttered toast.

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.

Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Fish + anchovytop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together637 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,488 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,697 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Parsley + anchovytop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,702 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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 topping and provides the savoury filling.
Butter: Adds richness and moisture, helping the fish stay soft and spreadable when warmed.
Anchovy paste: Adds a salty, savoury depth that boosts the flavour of the fish.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, butter, parsley, anchovy, pepper):

Capersfits better
Thymefits better
Tarragonfits better
Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, butter, parsley, anchovy, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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.