Why it works: Butter and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 28,563 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓
Baked Pickerel
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Bake the fish
Score the backbones of the fish with a sharp knife and place them in a baking pan.
Pour boiling water over the fish, cover, and bake at 300°F (150°C), basting with butter and water at least six times.
Ensure the fish is tender yet firm when done.
Make the sauce and serve
Carefully transfer the fish to a hot-water dish.
In a separate bowl, strain the gravy from the dripping pan into the drawn butter and add minced parsley.
Heat the sauce almost to a boil and pour it over the fish.
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 + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pickerel
- Provides the flesh that turns tender and flaky as it bakes.
- Drawn butter
- Adds richness and fat that carries flavour and keeps the sauce smooth.
- Butter
- Adds fat that promotes gentle browning and moisture on the surface during basting.
The step that matters
Check the fish for doneness. Fish proteins set quickly at oven heat, so overcooking squeezes out moisture and makes the flesh dry and tough. Checking that it is tender yet firm keeps it moist.
“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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