Why it works: Horseradish and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,832 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
How to Boil Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the salt fish in water until well drained.
Cook
In a pot, add cold water, ½ cup vinegar, and shredded horseradish.
Place the fish in the pot and bring to a boil slowly.
Once cooked, serve with egg sauce, mustard, and melted butter.
Garnish with shredded horseradish or boiled parsnips if desired.
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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Horseradish + mustardtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,832 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Horseradish + parsniptop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together42 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Mustard + parsniptop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together89 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,067 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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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
- Salt fish
- Is the main protein; soaking removes excess salt before cooking.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the poaching liquid.
- Egg sauce
- Adds richness and moisture to the mild, firm fish.
- Plain melted butter
- Adds fat and richness that complements the fish.
The step that matters
Bring the fish to a boil slowly. Heating gently keeps the fish tender and prevents it from toughening and breaking apart. Rapid boiling causes the proteins to contract and firm up too much.
Swap the parsnip
The recipe marks parsnip as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, vinegar, horseradish, egg, sauce, mustard, butter):
- Shallotfits better
- Chivefits better
- Cucumberfits better
- Parsnipthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, vinegar, horseradish, egg, sauce, mustard, butter. 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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