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Bkoiled Fish

A simple broiled fish seasoned with salt, pepper, olive oil, butter, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper 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 ↓

Bkoiled Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Preheat the broiler until very hot.

  2. Season the fish with salt and pepper.

  3. Brush the fish with olive oil on both sides.

Broil and serve

  1. Broil the fish until cooked through.

  2. Pour melted butter and minced parsley over the fish.

  3. Serve on a hot platter.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + olivetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,649 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Olive + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,263 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

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

  5. Fish + olivetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together279 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Fish
Forms the main protein that cooks through under direct heat.
Butter
Adds richness and carries flavor when melted over the cooked fish.
Olive oil
Coats the fish so it browns evenly and does not stick under the broiler.

The step that matters

Broil the fish until cooked through. Fish cooks quickly under intense heat and turns dry and tough if left too long. Checking for opaque flesh that flakes easily helps prevent overcooking.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, butter, olive, pepper):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, butter, olive, pepper. 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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