Name: To Boil Rock Fish
Ingredients: a gill of water; a large spoonful of lemon pickle; two boats of butter nicely melted

Why it works: Lemon and butter 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 ↓

To Boil Rock Fish

Ingredients

a gill of water
a large spoonful of lemon pickle
two boats of butter nicely melted

Directions

Boil the fish

Clean the head and shoulders of the rockfish, put into a fish kettle with cold water and salt, boil gently and skim.
When done, drain the water, lay the fish in a dish, and garnish with scraped horse-radish.
Melt two boats of butter with chopped parsley, or use anchovy butter.
Fry the roe and liver and serve them in separate dishes.

Use the leftovers

If any of the rockfish remains, it will make a delicious dish.
Pick the fish in small pieces.
Put the pieces in a stew pan with a gill of water, a lump of butter, salt, a large spoonful of lemon pickle, and a splash of pepper vinegar.
Shake over the fire until perfectly hot, then serve.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

114Calories

1 gProtein

12 gFat

4 gCarbs

Counts 2 of 3 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 2 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Water	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Mary Randolph (1762–1828). 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. See the original page.

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.

Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,227 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Rockfish (in the method): Forms the main body of the dish, flaking into pieces when cooked and reheated.
Butter: Adds richness and moisture, coating the fish and carrying flavour when melted.
Lemon pickle: Adds sharp, acidic brightness that cuts through the richness of the butter.

“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.