Why it works: Capers and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,024 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Baked White Fish
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the fish
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Place the fish pieces in a deep plate and dot with 1 tablespoon of butter.
Sprinkle the chopped green pepper and salt over the fish.
Pour the white wine over the fish and cover the dish tightly.
Bake and make the sauce
Bake the fish for 30 minutes.
In a small pan, cook 1 tablespoon of butter until it turns a delicate brown.
Add the capers and flour to the pan, stirring well.
If desired, add a little more wine or drain the sauce from the fish into the butter.
Pour the sauce over the fish and serve hot.
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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Capers + flourtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,024 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + white winetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,083 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Sauce + caperstop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together678 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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, cooked gently in wine and butter until flaky.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, and browns to a nutty flavour in the sauce.
- White wine
- Adds moisture and acidity, steaming the fish and flavouring the pan juices.
- Flour
- Thickens the browned butter and pan juices into a smooth sauce.
- Capers
- Add a sharp, salty acidity that cuts through the rich butter sauce.
The step that matters
Browning the butter for the sauce. Butter turns from pale to delicate brown quickly, and then burns. Watching it closely gives a nutty flavour, while overcooking leaves a bitter taste that spoils the sauce.
Swap the capers
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, butter, pepper, white wine, sauce, flour):
- Capersthe original
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Parsleyfits about as well
- Thymefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, butter, pepper, white wine, sauce, flour. 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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