Why it works: Garlic and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓
Indian Receipt for Curried Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Poach the fish
Remove the fish from the bones and cut it into 1.5-inch squares.
Place the fish in a stewpan.
Add enough hot water to barely cover the fish.
Sprinkle salt over the fish.
Boil gently until half cooked.
Remove the fish with a slotted spoon.
Pour the cooking liquid into a bowl.
Skim off any scum from the liquid.
Make the curry
In the same stewpan, melt the butter until slightly browned.
Add the minced garlic and onion.
Fry until well colored.
Stir in the fish.
Sprinkle with curry powder and mix well.
Cover the pan.
Shake it often until the fish is nicely browned.
Gradually add the reserved cooking liquid.
Simmer until the fish is fully cooked but not falling apart.
Finish and serve
Add lemon juice or chili vinegar to taste.
Serve hot.
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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Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together29,058 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Garlic + lemontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,893 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Clove + garlictop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,368 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Clove + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,150 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,488 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fish
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooked gently so it stays in pieces.
- Butter
- Carries fat for frying and adds richness and a nutty, browned flavor.
- Onion
- Softens and browns during frying, adding sweetness and body to the sauce.
- Garlic
- Adds pungent aroma that deepens as it fries in the butter.
- Curry powder
- Supplies the dominant spice aroma and color of the dish.
The step that matters
Simmer until the fish is fully cooked but not falling apart. Fish protein sets as it heats and breaks down with prolonged or vigorous cooking. Gentle simmering after adding the liquid cooks it through while keeping the pieces intact.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, butter, garlic, onion, lemon):
- Parsleyfits better
- Thymefits better
- Capersfits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, butter, garlic, onion, lemon. 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.
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