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 ↓
Broiling Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the fish and rub it with vinegar.
Flour the fish lightly.
Cook
Preheat a clean, hot gridiron and grease it with fresh suet.
Place the fish on the gridiron and cook until done, turning carefully with gridiron tongs.
If the fish is small and delicate, fold it in buttered parchment paper before grilling.
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).
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Vinegar + flourtop 27% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,652 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Fish + flourtop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,532 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Whole fish
- Main protein that firms and flakes as it cooks.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that lightly firms the outer surface of the fish.
- Flour
- Forms a light coating that helps the surface brown and crisp.
- Fresh suet
- Fat that greases the gridiron so the fish is less likely to stick.
The step that matters
Turning the fish carefully. Cooked fish is delicate and its protein structure is fragile, so it can tear or stick if forced. Turning gently with tongs, once the surface has set and releases from the hot, greased gridiron, keeps the fish 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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