Why it works: Flour and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,066 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Fresh Herrings
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the herring
Scale, wash, and remove the gills and eyes from the herrings.
Wash again, dry, and place in a dry cloth.
Once dry, score across the back of each herring.
Broil and serve
Dust with flour and place on a reversible gridiron.
Broil for about 10 minutes.
Serve with Mustard 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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Flour + mustardtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,066 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Mustard + saucetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,120 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + saucetop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,078 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Herrings
- Provide the oily fish that is the main component of the dish.
- Flour
- Dusting creates a light coating that helps the skin brown and crisp under heat.
The step that matters
Drying the herring before scoring and broiling. Wet skin steams instead of browning under the broiler, so the fish must be patted dry before it is scored and cooked.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sauce):
- Shallotfits better
- Arrowrootfits better
- Horseradishfits better
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sauce. 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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