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 ↓
How to Broil Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Dry the fish with a towel.
Rub the fish inside and outside with butter, then season with salt and pepper.
Grill
Prepare a sharp fire and ensure good airflow.
Place the fish on the grill and turn it often to prevent charring.
Finish
When cooked, place the fish on a warm platter with the inside facing up and spread more butter on top.
To turn the fish, use a dish to hold it and turn the grill with your other hand, starting with the skin side down.
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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Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,488 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Fish + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,948 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fish
- The main protein, which firms and turns flaky as its proteins set during grilling.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, helping the fish stay juicy over the heat.
The step that matters
Turning the fish. Fish flesh is delicate and sticks or breaks when moved too early or too roughly. Starting skin side down and supporting the whole fish on a dish keeps it intact, while frequent turning helps prevent the outside from charring before the inside is cooked.
“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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