Why it works: Fish and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,889 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Boiled Fish
Ingredients
Directions
In a pot, bring enough water to a boil to cover the fish.
Add coarse sea salt and lemon juice or vinegar to the boiling water.
Sew the fish in a piece of muslin to prevent it from breaking.
Carefully place the fish in the boiling water and cook until done.
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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Fish + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,889 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Small fish (such as cod or haddock)
- Its protein firms up as it cooks, giving the flesh a flaky texture.
- Lemon juice or vinegar
- Adds acidity to the poaching water, brightening the flavour of the mild fish.
The step that matters
Carefully place the fish in the boiling water and cook until done.. Fish flesh is delicate and breaks easily. Lowering it gently into the boiling liquid, with the muslin holding it together, helps it keep its shape while the proteins set.
“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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