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Broiled Fish

A whole fish is split, broiled, seasoned with salt, pepper, and butter, and served immediately.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Broiled Fish

Why it works: Fish and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,488 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Broiled Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Preheat your broiler.

  2. Grease the broiler with a piece of suet.

  3. Split the fish down the back.

Broil and serve

  1. Broil the fish for 30 minutes over moderate heat.

  2. Carefully separate the fish from the broiler with a knife.

  3. Sprinkle the fish with salt and pepper, then spread with butter.

  4. Serve immediately.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

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

  2. Fish + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,948 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Fish
Its protein sets as it cooks, giving firm flesh that flakes when done.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the cooked fish and helps it brown slightly.
Suet
Its fat coats the broiler, so the fish is less likely to stick while cooking.

The step that matters

Carefully separate the fish from the broiler with a knife.. The skin and flesh stick to hot metal as they cook. Working the knife gently under the fish keeps the skin intact and the fillet from tearing.

“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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