Name: Observations on Dressing Fish
Ingredients: fish; salt; vinegar; horse-radish; mint; parsley

Why it works: Horse and radish work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 529 recipes. Both carry 2-methylbutyraldehyde, which smells malty, chocolate. The science ↓

Observations on Dressing Fish

Ingredients

Directions

If the fish is not cleaned, clean it thoroughly.
For boiling, add salt and a little vinegar to the water for firmness.
Salt Cod, Whiting, or Haddock and keep for a day; they can last two days in cool weather.
Soak fresh-water fish in strong saltwater to remove muddy smell, or scald if large enough.
Put the fish in cold water and heat gently to avoid breaking the outer part.
For crimp fish, place in boiling water, then add cold water to reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes.
Check if the fish is ready by seeing if it leaves the bone; remove immediately to avoid woolly texture.
Keep the fish warm on a plate covered with a clean cloth.

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.

Horse + radishtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together529 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
Radish + parsleytop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together120 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Mint + parsleytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,198 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Vinegar + radishtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together508 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Fish + horsetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together63 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

Swap the mint

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, vinegar, horse, radish, parsley):

Capersfits better
Tarragonfits better
Garlicfits better
Mintthe original

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