Why it works: Fish and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,668 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓
Fried Plaice
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Remove the flesh from the bones of the plaice in fillets.
Coat and fry
Dip the fillets in beaten eggs, then coat with fine bread crumbs.
Fry the coated fillets in plenty of hot lard until golden brown.
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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Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,668 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Fish + eggtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,782 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the bread crumbs to the fish so the coating stays on during frying.
- Fine bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden coating that browns and protects the delicate fish.
- Lard
- Conducts heat to cook the fish quickly and browns the crumb coating.
The step that matters
Fry the coated fillets in plenty of hot lard until golden brown. Enough hot fat keeps the oil temperature high so the coating crisps and browns quickly. Cold or crowded frying lets the crumbs absorb grease and the fish steam, leaving a soggy coating and overcooked fish.
“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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