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 ↓
Fish Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Remove all skin and bones from the fish and pound it.
Add the bread crumbs, diced bacon, pepper, salt, and lemon juice.
Mix in the well-beaten eggs.
Transfer the mixture to a well-buttered pudding basin.
Steam and serve
Steam the pudding for one hour.
Turn out the pudding.
Pour the parsley sauce over it.
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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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,668 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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 pudding and gives it its flavour.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb moisture and help give the pudding a light, tender body.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture together and help it set firm when steamed.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, and keeps the pudding from sticking to the basin.
The step that matters
Steam the pudding for one hour. Steaming cooks the egg-bound mixture gently and evenly, so it sets through without becoming rubbery or dry. Keep the water simmering steadily so the pudding cooks at a constant heat.
“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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