Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 14,036 recipes mention both. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: wheat, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare the fish stock
Prepare the fillets by rolling or cutting them into pieces.
Boil the bones and skins of the fish with the onion in water for 30 minutes.
Strain the liquid.
Bring the liquid to a boil.
Add a little pepper and salt.
If there's too much liquid, strain it down to ½ pint.
Poach and thicken
Gently boil the fillets for about 10 minutes until tender.
Mix the flour with cold water until smooth.
Stir the mixture into the fish gently until thickened.
Finish the sauce
Taste and adjust seasoning with pepper and salt.
Add chopped parsley.
Cook gently for 1 minute.
Add a little lemon juice to the sauce.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
-
Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,036 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together34,118 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Pepper + lemontop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together27,039 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Onion + parsleytop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together25,834 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Fish + lemontop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,855 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
- Fillets of sole
- Provide the delicate white flesh that is poached until tender.
- Bones and skins of fish
- Release gelatin and flavour into the water, giving the stock body and taste.
- Flour
- Thickens the liquid into a smooth sauce as it is stirred in and heated.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the buttery, savoury flavour of the sauce.
- Chopped parsley
- Adds fresh, herbal aroma and colour to the finished sauce.
The step that matters
Stirring the flour mixture into the fish. Flour mixed with cold water must be stirred in gently and heated so the starch swells evenly; adding it lumpy or too quickly can leave clumps that will not smooth out.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, pepper, flour, parsley, lemon):
- Carrotbetter flavor fit
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, pepper, flour, parsley, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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
Illustration
Illustration
Illustration
IllustrationThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.