Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 27,047 recipes mention both. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Fish in Egg Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Poach the fish
Boil the fish in water with ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt and 1 teaspoon lemon juice.
Make the sauce
Beat the egg yolks with a little cold milk.
Pour the remaining milk into the boiling mixture.
Cook in a double boiler until thickened.
Serve
Pour the sauce over the fish.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
-
Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Milk + fishtop 13% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together1,432 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
-
Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Fish + lemontop 15% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together1,889 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the sauce as they set with gentle heat and add richness.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce and adds body and mild richness.
- Fish
- Serves as the main protein that the sauce is poured over.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavor of the fish and sauce.
The step that matters
Cook the sauce gently in the double boiler. Egg yolk proteins set around 65 to 70°C. Gentle, indirect heat lets the sauce thicken smoothly, while too much heat can scramble the yolks into lumps.
“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.
You might also like
Lemon Sauce236 recipes
Fried Fish120 recipes
Fish Croquettes81 recipes
Scalloped Cod69 recipesThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.