Name: Broiled Fish
Ingredients: 1 whole fish, cleaned, rinsed, and dried; flour, for dusting; coarse sea salt, to taste; black pepper, to taste; butter, for serving; lemons, pickles, or parsley, for garnish

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

1 whole fish, cleaned, rinsed, and dried
flour, for dusting
coarse sea salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste
butter, for serving
lemons, pickles, or parsley, for garnish

Directions

Prepare

Lightly dust the fish with flour.
If using salt fish, soak it overnight in enough water to cover, then wipe dry before cooking.

Broil and serve

Grease a gridiron and broil the fish over a clear, quiet fire.
Turn the fish frequently to prevent burning; it should take about 30 minutes for a fish 1 inch thick.
Serve with butter, salt, and pepper to taste.
Garnish with lemons, pickles, or parsley.

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.

Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,488 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Fish + lemontop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,889 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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 over direct heat to become flaky.
Flour: Dusting the surface helps the skin brown and resist sticking to the grill.
Butter: Added at serving to contribute richness and moisture to the cooked fish.