Name: Fish Broiled
Ingredients: various fish (shad, barbel, brill, plaice, Yarmouth bloaters, mackerel, herrings, cod, mullet, haddocks, soles, sprats, whiting, dace, crimped cod, turbot, salmon, or eels); oil; seasoning (salt and pepper); fresh beef suet; strong vinegar

Why it works: Pepper and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Fish Broiled

Ingredients

various fish (shad, barbel, brill, plaice, Yarmouth bloaters, mackerel, herrings, cod, mullet, haddocks, soles, sprats, whiting, dace, crimped cod, turbot, salmon, or eels)
oil
seasoning (salt and pepper)
fresh beef suet
strong vinegar

Directions

Clean the fish thoroughly.
Rub the fish with oil and seasoning.
Wet the fish with strong vinegar and let it sit for a while.
Preheat a gridiron by rubbing it with fresh beef suet until very hot.
Broil the fish over a clear fire until cooked through, or enclose in oiled paper and broil.

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.

Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Fish + beeftop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together226 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,814 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Fish + peppertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,948 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Fish + vinegartop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,036 recipes

Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).