Why it works: Fish and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,036 recipes. Both carry acetoin, which smells butter, cream. The science ↓
Fish, Boiled
Ingredients
Directions
Cook
If the fish is large, place it in cold salted water; if small, use hot salted water.
For small fish, boil for 2 to 3 minutes; for a 4 to 5‑pound sheep's head, boil for 10 minutes once the water is boiling.
Use a strainer to place the fish in the saucepan.
Rub vinegar on the outside of the fish before boiling to prevent the skin from cracking.
Serve
Serve the boiled fish on a napkin.
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 + vinegartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,036 recipes
Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fish
- Protein that firms and turns opaque as it cooks in the simmering water.
- Vinegar
- Acid applied to the outside of the fish that helps keep the skin from cracking.
The step that matters
Choosing cold or hot salted water by fish size. Large fish started in cold water heat gradually, so the centre cooks through before the outside overcooks and splits. Small fish in hot water cook quickly, so they need only a short time to avoid becoming tough.
“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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