Why it works: Butter and shrimp are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,931 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓
Haddock, Broiled
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Preheat your grill or broiler.
Dip the cleaned haddock in oil or clarified butter.
Dredge flour over the fish.
Broil and serve
Broil the haddock on a grill, turning it two or three times.
Cook until browned on both sides, about 10 to 15 minutes.
Serve on a napkin with shrimp or anchovy sauce.
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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Butter + shrimptop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,931 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Haddock + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together764 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Haddock + shrimptop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together83 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Haddock + flourtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together401 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter and flour 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
- Haddock
- Forms the main flaky protein that sets and firms as it cooks.
- Oil or clarified butter
- Carries heat to the surface and promotes even browning while preventing sticking.
- Flour
- Dries the fish surface, helping it brown and form a light crust.
The step that matters
Turning the haddock. Fish is delicate and sticks and tears when moved too early. Turning it only two or three times, once the surface has set and browned, keeps the fillet intact and lets both sides brown 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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