Why it works: Haddock and butter work together. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 764 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Finnan Haddock
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Strip off the skin from the Finnan haddock.
Rub the fish with butter or oil.
Cook and serve
Broil the fish over a quick, clear fire until cooked, about 3-4 minutes.
Alternatively, cut the fish into pieces and steam in a basin of boiling water for 10-15 minutes.
Drain the fish and place it on a hot dish, rubbing more butter over it.
Serve hot.
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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Haddock + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together764 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
- Finnan haddock
- Forms the main flesh of the dish, which cooks through and flakes when heated.
- Butter or oil
- Adds moisture and richness, helping the fish stay tender and browning during broiling.
The step that matters
Broil over a quick, clear fire. Fish cooks quickly and dries out easily. Broiling for only about 3-4 minutes over intense, direct heat cooks it through while keeping it moist, so it should be checked for doneness rather than left too long.
“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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