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Fried Perch

A whole perch seasoned with salt, oil, parsley, onion, and lemon, then fried until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Fried Perch

Why it works: Parsley and lemon 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 ↓

Fried Perch

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Scale and prepare the perch.

  2. Remove the gills and wash the fish.

  3. Make shallow cuts across both sides of the perch.

Marinate and fry

  1. Marinate the perch in salt, oil, parsley, onion slices, and lemon juice for some time.

  2. Drain the perch, coat it in flour, and fry until firm and golden brown.

Serve

  1. Serve immediately.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

  1. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Onion + lemontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,646 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Perch
Provides the main protein that firms and turns flaky when fried.
Flour (in the method)
Forms a thin coating that browns in the hot oil and crisps the surface.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the marinated fish.

The step that matters

Frying until golden brown. Fish cooks quickly, so overheating or overcooking can dry out the flesh. The flour coating needs enough hot oil to brown and crisp, while the fish is cooked through only when it turns firm.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parsley, lemon):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Kalefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, lemon. 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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