Why it works: Sauce and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,469 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Skate, Curried
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Make the curry sauce and heat it.
Cook the skate
Add the skate pieces to the hot sauce.
Use stock made from the skate trimmings; boil for 20 minutes without breaking the fish.
Stir in the tomato conserve and flavored vinegar.
Serve on a hot dish.
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.
-
Sauce + tomatotop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,469 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Tomato + vinegartop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,063 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Sauce + vinegartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,844 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
- Skate
- Provides the main protein, which firms and flakes as it cooks in the sauce.
- Tomato conserve or sauce
- Adds sweetness and acidity that round out the curry flavor.
- Flavored vinegar
- Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the sauce.
The step that matters
Boil the stock without breaking the fish. Fish protein sets and firms as it heats, but a hard boil agitates delicate flakes and can tear the pieces apart. Keeping the simmer gentle preserves their shape and texture.
Swap the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, vinegar):
- Mustardfits better
- Horseradishfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, vinegar. 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.
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Cream of Tomato Soup107 recipes
Tomato Bisque61 recipes
Cream Tomato Soup28 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.