Why it works: Flour and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 25% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,677 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Fried Perch
Ingredients
Directions
Dry the cleaned perch with a cloth and lay them side by side on a large dish.
Sprinkle the fish with coarse sea salt and dredge one side with flour.
Turn the fish over, salt, and dredge the other side with flour.
Heat enough lard or beef dripping in a frying pan until it boils.
Test the oil by dipping the tail of one fish; if it sizzles, the oil is ready.
Carefully place the fish in the hot oil and fry for five minutes on one side.
Turn the fish and fry for another five minutes on the other side.
Skim the oil before adding the fish to ensure clarity.
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.
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Flour + beeftop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together10,677 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and beef barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 10,677 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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