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Whiting, with White-wine Sauce

A baked whiting served with a white wine sauce made from butter, flour, water, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Whiting, with White-wine Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare and bake

  1. Score the whiting on both sides to a depth of ¼ inch.

  2. Season with salt and pepper, then pour white wine over the fish to cover.

  3. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until done, about 15 minutes.

Make the sauce and serve

  1. In a saucepan, knead together 1 ounce of butter and 1 ounce of flour over medium heat until smooth.

  2. Gradually add ⅓ cup of water, bring to a boil, then add the liquid from the baking dish and chopped parsley.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in ½ ounce of fresh butter until dissolved.

  4. Pour the sauce over the fish and serve.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. White wine + buttertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,083 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

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

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Whiting
Forms the main protein; scoring lets seasoning and heat reach the flesh evenly.
White wine
Keeps the fish moist while baking and adds acidity and aroma to the pan liquid.
Butter
Enriches the sauce and adds richness and a smooth finish.
Flour
Thickens the sauce by binding with butter and liquid into a smooth roux.

The step that matters

Stirring the flour and butter into the liquid. Cooking the butter and flour together first, then adding liquid gradually, keeps the roux smooth. Adding liquid too fast or skipping the cooked roux can leave lumps and a floury taste.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (whiting, pepper, white wine, fish, butter, flour):

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Capersfits about as well
  3. Thymefits less well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against whiting, pepper, white wine, fish, butter, flour. 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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