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Boiled White Fish

A simple boiled white fish served with parsley and lemon garnish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Boiled White Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the fish thoroughly with a little salt to remove any dark skin or blood.

  2. Tie the fish into a good shape.

  3. Place the fish on a drainer.

Poach

  1. In a pan, bring enough water to a boil to cover the fish.

  2. Remove the pan from heat.

  3. Add 1 tablespoon of salt per quart of water and 1 tablespoon of vinegar.

  4. Place the fish in the water and cook gently just below boiling point.

  5. Cook for 6 minutes per pound, plus an additional 6 minutes, or 10 minutes per pound for a large cut.

  6. Drain the fish.

Serve

  1. Serve on a folded napkin.

  2. Garnish with parsley and lemon.

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. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

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

  3. Vinegar + parsleytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,477 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Fish + parsleytop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Vinegar + lemontop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,334 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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, cooking gently to stay moist and flaky.
Vinegar
Adds a light acidity to the poaching water, brightening the mild flavour of the fish.

The step that matters

Cook gently just below boiling point. At a rolling boil the outside of the fish toughens and breaks apart before the centre cooks. Gentle, sub-boiling heat keeps the flesh tender, moist and intact.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, vinegar, lemon):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Dillfits about as well
  4. Marjoramfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, vinegar, lemon. 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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