Name: Boiled Fresh Cod
Ingredients: thick piece of cod; boiled potatoes (balls or cubes); minced parsley; Oyster Sauce or Egg Sauce

Why it works: Potato and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,855 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Boiled Fresh Cod

Ingredients

thick piece of cod
boiled potatoes (balls or cubes)
minced parsley
Oyster Sauce or Egg Sauce

Directions

Select a thick piece of cod.
Cook the cod as directed for boiled fish.
Garnish with boiled potato balls or cubes, sprinkled with minced parsley.
Serve with either Oyster Sauce or Egg Sauce.

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.

Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,855 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Potato + oystertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together229 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Parsley + oystertop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,211 recipes

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