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To Boil Whitings

A simple boiled whitefish served with parsley and butter, cooked in salted water with bay leaves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 28,563 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

To Boil Whitings

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Place the cleaned whitings on a fish plate.

Poach and serve

  1. Bring water to a boil and add the salt, bay leaves, and tied parsley.

  2. Add the whitings to the boiling water and let them simmer for 5 to 10 minutes. Watch closely to avoid overcooking.

  3. Serve with parsley and butter, using the cooking liquid.

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.

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. Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  2. Whiting + parsleytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together330 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Whiting + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together510 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Whitings
Provide the delicate white flesh that becomes flaky and tender when gently poached.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the fish when served.
Bay leaves
Infuse the cooking liquid with a subtle aromatic flavor.

The step that matters

Simmer the whitings for 5 to 10 minutes and watch closely. Fish proteins set and toughen when overcooked, so the flesh turns dry and rubbery. Checking early keeps it moist and flaky.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (whiting, butter):

  1. Capersfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Nutmegfits less well
  4. Thymefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against whiting, butter. 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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