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To Broil Fish

A method for cooking a whole fish by broiling it after seasoning and optional marination.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,297 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, fruity. The science ↓

To Broil Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Clean the fish thoroughly.

  2. Rub it with vinegar or dry it and dredge it with flour.

  3. Season oily fish with salt and pepper.

  4. For white fish, spread salad oil or butter over it.

  5. Soak the fish in a marinade of olive oil and spices (optional).

  6. Split large fish or make notches on the sides to ensure even cooking.

Broil

  1. Use a well-greased gridiron.

  2. Cook the flesh side first until golden brown.

  3. Turn to broil the skin side until crisp.

  4. Hold a platter over the fish.

  5. Separate any sticking parts with a knife.

  6. Flip the gridiron to transfer the fish to the platter.

Finish and serve

  1. Once cooked, sprinkle with salt and pepper.

  2. Spread a little butter on top.

  3. Place in the oven briefly to let the butter soak in.

  4. Serve with a Maitre d'hôtel sauce or other good sauce 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.

  1. Vinegar + olivetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,297 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

  2. Pepper + olivetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,263 recipes

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

  3. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

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

  4. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Whole fish
Forms the main body of the dish, cooking into flaky, tender flesh with a crisp skin.
Flour
Dries the surface and forms a thin coating that helps the skin brown and crisp.
Salad oil or butter
Adds fat to the surface, promoting browning and preventing sticking under heat.
Butter
Spread on at the end, adding richness and flavour as it soaks into the cooked fish.

The step that matters

Cooking the flesh side first. Fish flesh is delicate and sticks or breaks easily if turned too early. Cooking it until golden brown first sets the surface so it releases cleanly from the gridiron.

“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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