Name: Forcemeat for Dressing Fish Fillets
Ingredients: 4 anchovies, finely pounded; ½ cup grated bread; 2 tablespoons chopped parsley; 1 hard boiled egg yolk; 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel; 1 tablespoon lemon juice; ¼ teaspoon pepper; ¼ teaspoon salt; 2 eggs

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 ↓

Forcemeat for Dressing Fish Fillets

Ingredients

Directions

In a bowl, combine the pounded anchovies, grated bread, chopped parsley, and hard boiled egg yolk.
Add the grated lemon peel, lemon juice, pepper, and salt, then mix well and form into a paste by adding the two eggs.

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.

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.

Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,037 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Bread + parsleytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,588 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Anchovies: Provide a salty, savory depth that flavours the whole stuffing.
Grated bread: Adds bulk and absorbs moisture so the stuffing holds together.
Eggs: Bind the mixture into a paste and set it when cooked.
Hard boiled egg yolk: Adds richness and a creamy, crumbly texture to the stuffing.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the rich, savory flavours.

“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.