Why it works: Butter and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Boiled Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Cook
Put the cod in boiling water.
Reduce heat to maintain a simmer for 60 minutes, adjusting time based on the size of the fish.
For halibut and salmon, simmer for an additional 30 minutes.
Serve
Serve with drawn butter sauce.
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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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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
- Cod
- The main protein; its flesh turns opaque and flakes apart as it cooks through.
The step that matters
Hold a gentle simmer. Once the water is boiling, lower the heat to a simmer. A hard rolling boil toughens fish protein and can break the flesh into pieces.
“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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