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 Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Split the fish from head to tail and clean it thoroughly.
Optionally, remove the backbone.
Broil
Brush each half with melted butter.
Place the fish in a wire broiler, flesh side down.
Cook over a clear fire until done.
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.
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Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,488 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fish
- Firm flesh holds its shape and stays moist through the high heat of broiling.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat that keeps the surface from drying and helps it brown lightly.
The step that matters
Cook over a clear fire until done. Fish cooks quickly and dries out easily. A clear, steady fire without flare-ups lets the flesh cook through evenly, so it is checked for doneness rather than left to burn.
“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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