Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Boiled Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wipe the fish inside and out with a cloth dampened with cold water.
Tie the fish in a piece of cheesecloth.
Boil and serve
Place the fish in boiling water to cover, adding salt and lemon juice or vinegar.
If the skin is not removed, scald the dark skin and scrape it off.
Cook the fish for 20 to 45 minutes, depending on its size, until the flesh separates from the bone.
Serve on a platter garnished with parsley and lemon.
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.
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Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Fish + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,889 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Fish + parsleytop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,341 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fish
- Provides the flesh that cooks until it separates from the bone, giving the dish its main body.
- Lemon juice or vinegar
- Adds acidity to the cooking water, brightening the flavour of the mild fish.
The step that matters
Keep the water at a gentle boil while the fish cooks. Vigorous boiling can break the delicate flesh apart and toughen it. Holding the water just below a hard boil cooks the fish evenly while it stays intact until the flesh separates from the bone.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, lemon):
- Parsleythe original
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Marjoramfits less well
- Thymefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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