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To Broil Haddocks or Whitings

Broiled haddocks or whitings seasoned with vinegar and flour, served with pickles and melted butter or cockle sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Haddock and sauce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 200 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

To Broil Haddocks or Whitings

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Gut and wash the haddocks or whitings, then dry them with a cloth.

  2. Rub vinegar over the fish to help keep the skin intact.

  3. Dredge the fish well with flour.

Broil and serve

  1. Grease a hot gridiron with butter and place the fish on it to prevent sticking.

  2. Turn the fish two or three times while broiling until cooked through.

  3. Serve with pickles and melted butter or cockle sauce.

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. Haddock + saucetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together200 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Haddock + flourtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together401 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

Haddocks or whitings
The main fish, which turns flaky and tender when cooked through.
Vinegar
Helps the skin hold together during broiling.
Flour
Coats the fish to help the surface brown and form a light crust.
Butter
Greases the hot gridiron so the fish does not stick, and adds richness.

The step that matters

Greasing the hot gridiron before placing the fish. A hot, well-greased surface sears the fish's outer layer quickly, so it forms a crust that releases cleanly. A cold or poorly greased gridiron lets the flesh bond to the metal, tearing the fish and skin when turned.

“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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