Why it works: Fish and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,948 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
To Broil Fish
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Clean and dry the fish thoroughly.
Sprinkle the fish with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Grease a wire broiler and place the fish inside.
Broil
Broil slices of fish, turning often.
For whole fish, broil flesh side for 20 minutes.
Turn and broil skin side until brown and crisp.
Serve
To remove the fish, loosen it on one side, then the other, to prevent sticking.
Slip the fish onto a hot platter or invert a platter over the fish and flip both together.
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 + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,948 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
- Fish
- Is the main component, cooked by direct heat until its flesh flakes and its skin turns brown and crisp.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the fish surface and draws out moisture, helping the skin brown and crisp.
The step that matters
Removing the fish from the broiler. Fish flesh sticks to hot wire when it is not yet set. Loosening it gently on one side and then the other, before lifting, keeps the fish intact.
“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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