Why it works: Garlic and onion match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓
Curried Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fish
Remove the fish from the bones and cut it into 1½‑inch pieces.
Place the fish in a stewpan with enough hot water to barely cover it and sprinkle with salt.
Boil gently until the fish is about half cooked, then lift it out with a fish slice.
Pour the cooking liquid into a basin and remove any scum.
Make the curry
In the same stewpan, melt the butter until it is slightly browned.
Add the minced garlic and onion, cooking until they are well colored.
Add the fish to the pan, sprinkle with curry powder, and stir well.
Cover the pan and shake it until the fish is nicely browned.
Gradually add the reserved cooking liquid and simmer until the fish is perfectly cooked but not falling apart.
Serve
Add lemon juice or chili vinegar to taste and serve hot.
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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Garlic + oniontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together29,058 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
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Garlic + lemontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,893 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Clove + garlictop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,368 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
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Clove + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,150 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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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
- Fish
- Forms the main body of the dish and is cooked gently so it stays in pieces.
- Butter
- Adds richness and, once slightly browned, a nutty flavor to the base.
- Onion
- Softens and browns to build sweetness and body in the curry base.
- Garlic
- Adds pungent aroma that deepens as it cooks in the butter.
- Bengal curry powder
- Supplies the spice blend that flavors the fish and coats it as it browns.
The step that matters
Simmer until the fish is perfectly cooked but not falling apart. Fish proteins set and firm with heat, and overcooking tightens them further and pulls them apart. Adding the cooking liquid gradually and simmering gently keeps the pieces intact while finishing them through.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, butter, garlic, onion, lemon):
- Parsleyfits better
- Thymefits better
- Capersfits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, butter, garlic, onion, 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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