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Broiled Fish

A whole fish is dusted with flour and broiled, then served with butter, salt, pepper, and optional garnish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Broiled Fish

Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Broiled Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Lightly dust the fish with flour.

  2. If using salt fish, soak it overnight in enough water to cover, then wipe dry before cooking.

Cook

  1. Broil the fish on a well-greased grill over a clear, gentle fire.

  2. Turn the fish frequently to prevent burning.

  3. Cook for about 30 minutes if the fish is 1 inch thick.

  4. Ensure the fish is cooked slowly and thoroughly.

Serve

  1. Serve with butter, salt, and pepper to taste.

  2. Garnish with lemons, pickles, or parsley as desired.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Fish + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,889 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

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

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

Fish
Forms the main body of the dish, cooking through to become flaky and tender.
Flour
Dusted on the surface, it helps the skin brown and keeps the fish from sticking.
Butter
Added at serving for richness and fat that carries flavour.

The step that matters

Cook slowly and turn frequently. Over a fierce fire the outside chars before the thick centre cooks through. A gentle, steady heat and frequent turning let heat reach the middle while the surface stays intact.

“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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