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Broiled White Fish

A whole white fish seasoned with salt and pepper, then broiled until browned.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Fish and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,488 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Broiled White Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the fish in salted water for several hours.

  2. Wipe the fish dry and grease a grill or gridiron.

Cook

  1. Place the fish on the grill, flesh side down.

  2. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

  3. Cook over hot coals for 20-30 minutes, turning carefully until browned on both sides.

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

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

  2. Fish + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,948 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

White fish
Provides the main protein, which firms and turns opaque as it cooks over direct heat.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the flesh and, from the soaking step, helps the fish hold moisture while cooking.

The step that matters

Turning the fish carefully. Fish flesh is delicate and firms as it cooks, so it can tear or stick to the grill if it is turned too early or roughly. Wiping it dry and greasing the grill first helps it release cleanly and brown evenly on both sides.

“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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