Why it works: Potato and haddock work together. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 171 recipes mention both. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 4Ingredients
Contains: milk, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the chopped bacon and cook for 4 minutes, stirring, until lightly crisp.
Add the chopped onion and cook for 4 minutes until softened.
Add the diced potatoes and the vegetable stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer and cook for 8 minutes until the potatoes are nearly tender.
Add the sweetcorn kernels and simmer for 2 minutes.
Lay the smoked haddock pieces into the soup, cover and simmer gently for 3 minutes until the fish is opaque, flakes easily and reaches 145°F (63°C).
Reduce the heat to low, stir in the double cream and warm through for 1 minute without boiling. Stir in the chopped parsley and serve hot.
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.
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Potato + haddocktop 7% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together171 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Onion + potatotop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together9,019 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + parsleytop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + creamtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together41,494 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Haddock + creamtop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together181 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, onion, potato, sweetcorn, haddock, cream):
- Garlicbetter flavor fit
- Thymeabout as good a flavor fit
- Parsleythe original
- Celeryabout as good a flavor fit
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, onion, potato, sweetcorn, haddock, 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).
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