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White Fish

A simple broiled white fish seasoned with salt, butter, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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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 ↓

White Fish

Oven, in the book's wordsThe moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “the moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Split the fish down the back.

  2. Sprinkle a little coarse sea salt on it.

  3. Anoint the fish lightly with butter.

  4. Sprinkle a little flour over the fish.

Broil and serve

  1. Place the fish skin side down on a broiler.

  2. Broil in a moderately hot oven at 350°F (175°C) for 15 minutes.

  3. Butter the fish again before serving.

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

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

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Fish + flourtop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

Butter and flour 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

White fish
Forms the main body of the dish, cooking to tender, flaky flesh under heat.
Butter
Adds moisture and richness, helping the surface brown and the flesh stay soft.
Flour
Dusted on the surface, it helps the skin and exterior brown and form a light crust.

The step that matters

Placing the fish skin side down on the broiler. The skin protects the delicate flesh from direct heat, so it cooks gently without drying out. Flipping or placing it the wrong way can leave the flesh overcooked and dry.

“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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