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Broiled Fish

Broiled Fish is a whole fish cooked over a broiler after being buttered, seasoned, and dredged in flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Broiled Fish

Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Broiled Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Preheat your grill or broiler.

  2. Split the fish lengthwise, wash quickly in water, and dry.

  3. Dip the fish in melted butter.

  4. Rub a double wire broiler with butter and place the fish inside.

  5. Dredge the fish with salt, pepper, and flour.

Broil

  1. Broil the fish over a medium heat, starting with the inside facing the fire.

  2. Watch carefully and turn frequently until cooked through.

  3. Once done, remove the broiler from the heat and let it rest on a dish.

Serve

  1. Loosen the fish from the wires with a knife on both sides.

  2. Fold the broiler together with the skin side up, leaving the fish on top.

  3. Place a warm platter upside down over the fish and turn the broiler and platter over together.

  4. Lift the broiler, leaving the fish in the center of the platter.

  5. Serve with melted butter and a few drops of lemon juice if desired.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

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

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Fish + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,889 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Fish
Forms the main body of the dish, cooking to flaky, tender flesh under direct heat.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, helping the fish stay juicy and encouraging gentle browning on the surface.
Flour
Dredged on the fish, it helps form a light coating that aids browning and holds moisture in.

The step that matters

Turning frequently under the broiler. Fish is lean and cooks quickly, so high direct heat can dry or toughen the flesh before it is cooked through. Frequent turning and close watching keep the heat even and the texture 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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