Why it works: Fish and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,889 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Broiled Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the fish and split it open.
Season the fish with coarse sea salt.
Broil
Dot the fish with fat and place it on a greased broiler.
If using a gas broiler, position the rack several inches below the flame.
Broil over coals or under a gas flame until brown and the flakes can be easily separated.
Serve
Garnish with sliced lemon before serving.
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 + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,889 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fresh or smoked fish
- Forms the main body of the dish, and its flakes separate when cooked through.
- Fat
- Adds moisture and richness, and helps the surface brown under the broiler.
The step that matters
Positioning the rack under a gas flame. Placing the fish several inches below the flame keeps the surface from scorching before the interior cooks through. Too close and the outside chars while the centre stays underdone.
“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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