Why it works: Fish and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,036 recipes. Both carry acetoin, which smells butter, cream. The science ↓
To Boil Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Fill a saucepan half full of water.
Bring the water to a boil.
Add salt and vinegar to the boiling water.
Cook
Place the fish into the boiling water.
Simmer gently.
Cook for 10 minutes per pound plus an additional 30 minutes.
Remove the fish.
Drain the fish.
Serve
Transfer the fish to a hot dish.
Cover with a suitable 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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Fish + vinegartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,036 recipes
Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fish
- Provides the main protein that cooks through gently in the simmering water.
- Vinegar
- Adds a small amount of acidity to the cooking water, brightening the mild flavour of the fish.
The step that matters
Simmer gently. Once the fish goes in, the water should only simmer rather than boil hard. A rolling boil can break the delicate flesh apart and toughen it, so gentle heat keeps the fish moist and intact.
“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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