Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 34,118 recipes mention both. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk, wheat, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare the fish
Cut the fish into ¾ inch thick slices.
Cut the slices into strips as wide as your two fingers.
Dry the fish strips with a clean cloth and rub lightly with salt and pepper.
Coat and fry
Dip each strip in the beaten egg, then coat with bread crumbs.
Heat enough butter, lard, or dripping in a pan to cover the cutlets.
Fry the cutlets until golden brown, then drain on hot white paper in a heated dish.
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 + parsleytop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together34,118 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Bread + buttertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together27,145 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Fish + breadtop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,661 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Fish + buttertop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together4,432 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Bread + eggtop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together22,584 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fish
- Forms the flaky, tender body of the cutlets once cooked through.
- Egg
- Binds the bread crumbs to the fish so the coating stays on during frying.
- Fine bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden coating that browns in the hot fat.
- Butter, lard, or dripping
- Conducts heat for frying and adds richness and browning to the coating.
The step that matters
Drying the fish strips before coating. Surface moisture makes the egg and crumbs slide off and steams the coating instead of letting it crisp in the fat. Patting the strips dry first helps the crumbs stick and brown.
“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
Illustration
Illustration
Illustration
IllustrationThe 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.