Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Broiled White Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Split the fish down the back and remove the backbone.
Preheat the grill and grease it.
Broil
Broil the fish for 5 minutes.
Turn the fish and cook for another 5 minutes.
Cook for an additional 5 minutes.
Serve
Serve on a hot platter with melted butter, chopped parsley, salt, and pepper.
Garnish with slices of lemon.
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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Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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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 + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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; its flesh firms and turns flaky as it cooks.
- Melted butter
- Adds moisture and richness, helping the fish stay tender after broiling.
The step that matters
Turn the fish and cook for another 5 minutes.. Direct heat firms and dries fish quickly. Turning it promotes even cooking, and the flesh should turn opaque and flake easily. Overcooking leaves it dry.
“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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