Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
A Fish Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the filling
Make a flaky pastry with the flour and a pinch of salt.
Skin and fillet the sole, then half-cook the fillets and let them cool.
Cut the fillets and eggs into small pieces and mix with cayenne pepper, salt, and lemon juice.
Assemble and bake
Roll the pastry into a square and trim the edges.
Wet the corners of the pastry and place the fish mixture in the center.
Bring the corners of the pastry to the center, overlapping them.
Brush the pastry with beaten egg, avoiding the edges.
Place the pie on a flat baking sheet and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 30 minutes.
Serve
Serve hot on a dish with a folded napkin, garnished with parsley or curled cress.
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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Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Forms the flaky pastry that encloses the filling and gives the pie its structure.
- Sole fillets
- Provide the main fish filling, whose protein sets as it is gently cooked in the pie.
- Eggs
- Bind the chopped fish mixture so it holds together when cut and served.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the fish.
- Beaten egg
- Coats the pastry, promoting browning and a glossy golden surface during baking.
The step that matters
Half-cook the fillets and let them cool. Fish cooks quickly, so partial cooking prevents it from overcooking inside the pastry. Cooling before mixing keeps the filling from making the pastry soggy and lets it hold its shape.
“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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