Name: Fried Catfish
Ingredients: fresh catfish; flour; lard or drippings; cayenne pepper (optional)

Why it works: Flour and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,459 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Fried Catfish

Ingredients

fresh catfish
flour
lard or drippings
cayenne pepper (optional)

Directions

Wash and clean the catfish, removing heads and tails.
Remove the upper part of the backbone near the shoulders.
Score the fish along the back with deep gashes.
Dredge the catfish in flour.
Heat plenty of lard or drippings in a pan until boiling.
Fry the catfish in the hot fat until golden brown.
Drain off excess fat before serving.
Sprinkle a little cayenne pepper on each incision before serving, if desired.

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.

Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together50,459 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Catfish + flourtop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together110 recipes

Shared aroma: hexanal (grass, green).
Catfish + peppertop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together215 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).