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Boiled Perch

A perch fillet is rubbed with vinegar, dredged in flour, grilled until brown, served with shrimp sauce or melted butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and shrimp work together. They rank in the top 24% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 862 recipes. Both carry 3-methylbutanol, which smells malty, whiskey. The science ↓

Boiled Perch

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Clean and dry the perch thoroughly with a cloth.

  2. Rub the fish with a little vinegar and dredge with flour.

Grill

  1. Grease the bars of a grill.

  2. Place the grill over a clear fire.

  3. When the grill is hot, place the fish on the grill.

  4. Turn the fish two or three times.

  5. Broil until they are a nice brown color.

Serve

  1. Serve with shrimp sauce or plain melted butter.

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.

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. Vinegar + shrimptop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together862 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-methylbutanol (malty, whiskey).

  2. Vinegar + flourtop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,652 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + shrimptop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Perch
The main protein, which cooks through and browns on the grill.
Flour
Dusting the fish creates a thin coating that helps it brown and keeps the surface from sticking.
Vinegar
A light acidic rub that brightens the flavor of the fish.
Melted butter
Adds fat and richness to the finished fish when served.

The step that matters

Turn the fish two or three times. Fish is delicate and sticks or breaks when moved too often or too late. Turning a few times, once the grill is hot and the bars are greased, lets the surface form a crust that releases cleanly and browns evenly.

“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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