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Broiled Fish

Broiled fish marinated in vinegar, oil, onion, pepper, salt, herbs, then breaded and broiled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Broiled Fish

Why it works: Fish and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,668 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Broiled Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Clean and split open the fish, then place it in a deep dish.

  2. Cover the fish with a mixture of vinegar, oil, minced onion, pepper, salt, and herbs.

  3. Let it marinate for at least 1 hour in a cold place, turning the fish several times.

Cook and serve

  1. When ready to cook, drain the fish carefully and dip it into bread crumbs.

  2. Broil the fish until well browned.

  3. Serve with tartare sauce.

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. Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  2. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  5. Onion + breadtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,676 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Large fish
Forms the main body of the dish, cooked by broiling until flaky and browned.
Vinegar
Acidic marinade that flavours the fish and begins to tenderise its surface.
Oil
Carries the herbs and onion and helps the coating brown under the broiler.
Bread crumbs
Form a coating that browns during broiling and adds a crisp exterior.

The step that matters

Broil the fish until well browned. Broiling is fast and intense, so the fish can scorch or dry out before it cooks through. Drain it well first, because excess marinade drips and steams, which keeps the crumb coating from crisping.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits better
  3. Mustardfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, vinegar, pepper, bread. 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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