Name: Brine for Boiling Fish
Ingredients: 4 ounces coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt') per gallon of water for small fish; 5 to 6 ounces coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt') per gallon of water for cod fish, lobsters, crabs, prawns, and shrimps; 8 ounces coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt') per gallon of water for salmon

Why it works: Lobster and crab work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 196 recipes. Both carry octanal, which smells fat, soap. The science ↓

Brine for Boiling Fish

Ingredients

4 ounces coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt') per gallon of water for small fish
5 to 6 ounces coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt') per gallon of water for cod fish, lobsters, crabs, prawns, and shrimps
8 ounces coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt') per gallon of water for salmon

Directions

Mix the appropriate amount of coarse sea salt with a gallon of water.
For small fish, use 4 ounces of salt; for cod, lobsters, crabs, prawns, and shrimps, use 5 to 6 ounces; for salmon, use 8 ounces.
Ensure the water is well skimmed from the moment scum begins to form.

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.

Lobster + crabtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together196 recipes

Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Crab + shrimptop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together123 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
Lobster + shrimptop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together403 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Fish + salmontop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,078 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Fish + shrimptop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together252 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).