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Steamed Fish

A simple steamed fish dish using filleted haddock, whiting, or sole, butter, salt, white pepper, and lemon juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,227 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Steamed Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Fillet the fish if not already done.

  2. Wipe the fish with a damp cloth.

  3. Cut the fish into neat pieces.

Season and cover

  1. Grease a soup plate or muffin dish with butter.

  2. Place the fish pieces on the greased dish.

  3. Sprinkle the fish with salt and white pepper.

  4. Squeeze lemon juice over the fish.

  5. Cover the fish with greased white paper and a lid or basin.

Steam

  1. Place the dish over a pan half full of boiling water.

  2. Ensure the water boils quickly for steam.

  3. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes until the fish is opaque and white.

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. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Haddock + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together764 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. White pepper + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,658 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Haddock + lemontop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together299 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Butter + white peppertop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Haddock, whiting, or sole
Forms the main body of the dish, cooking to a tender, flaky texture when steamed.
Butter
Greases the dish so the delicate fish does not stick, and adds a little richness.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the mild white fish.

The step that matters

Keep the water boiling quickly. Steam must be vigorous and constant to cook the fish evenly. If the water drops to a simmer, steam weakens, and the fish cooks slowly and may turn out watery or unevenly done.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (haddock, butter, lemon):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against haddock, butter, 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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