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Beetroot-cured Mackerel with Horseradish Dressing

Beetroot marinade with juniper, coriander and fennel makes for a vibrant and delicious summer fish dish

By bbcgoodfood · From Open Recipes · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Star anise and beetroot share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 22 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4

Ingredients

Contains: milk, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

By bbcgoodfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

  1. Star anise + beetroottop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together22 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Star anise + fenneltop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together88 recipes

    Shared aroma: cis-anethole (anise).

  3. Watercress + horseradishtop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together66 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Fennel + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together337 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Beetroot + horseradishtop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together209 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the coriander

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (watercress, star anise, fennel, thyme, sugar, beetroot, cream):

  1. Tarragonbetter flavor fit
  2. Cinnamonbetter flavor fit
  3. Dillbetter flavor fit
  4. Corianderthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against watercress, star anise, fennel, thyme, sugar, beetroot, cream. 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).