Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Smelts, to Bake
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Wash and dry the smelts thoroughly with a cloth.
Arrange the smelts in a flat baking dish.
Bake
Cover the smelts with breadcrumbs and dot with small pieces of butter.
Season with salt and cayenne pepper.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 15 minutes.
Just before serving, add a squeeze of lemon juice and garnish with fried parsley and lemon wedges.
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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Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Smelts
- Serve as the main protein, cooking gently in the oven to become tender and flaky.
- Breadcrumbs
- Form a crisp, golden crust over the fish while keeping its inside moist.
- Butter
- Adds fat that helps the breadcrumbs brown and gives the fish richness.
The step that matters
Drying the smelts before baking. Excess surface moisture steams the fish and softens the breadcrumb topping, so the smelts should be patted thoroughly dry before they are covered and baked.
“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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