Why it works: Pepper and butter match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and 85,512 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: milk, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Prepare the fish
Rub the double griddle with butter or suet and heat it well.
Season the inside of the mackerel with salt and cayenne, then place it skin side down on the griddle.
Cook and finish
Cook until the skin is a nice brown color, then turn the fish to cook the other side.
When done, place 2 tablespoons of Maitre d’Hôtel butter into the incisions of the fish.
Transfer the mackerel to a hot dish and spread 3 more tablespoons of butter over it.
Place in the oven for a few minutes and serve very hot.
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.
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Pepper + buttertop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together85,512 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mackerel
- Is the main fish, cooked whole and served with butter over its flesh.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, and carries the herb flavour into the fish.
The step that matters
Browning the skin on the hot griddle. The griddle must be well heated before the fish goes on, so the skin sears and browns quickly. A cold surface lets the skin stick and steam, which tears it and leaves the fish pale and greasy.
“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.
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