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Whiting Au Gratin

A baked whiting topped with bread crumbs, butter, white wine, mushrooms, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Whiting Au Gratin

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Butter a shallow dish generously.

  3. Empty and skin the whiting, then make incisions on each side about ¼ inch deep.

Assemble and bake

  1. Place the whiting in the dish and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and bread crumbs.

  2. Spread a thin layer of butter over the fish and pour the white wine on top.

  3. Finely chop the mushrooms and parsley, then sprinkle over the fish.

  4. Cover the dish with greased paper and bake for 20 minutes, basting occasionally.

Serve

  1. Serve in the same dish with cut lemon.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. White wine + mushroomtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,765 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

  3. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  5. Butter + white winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,083 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Whiting
Forms the main body of the gratin, cooking through gently in the covered dish.
Bread crumbs
Absorb juices and form a crisp, lightly browned crust on top.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, helping the fish stay tender and the surface brown.
White wine
Adds acidity and moisture, creating steam and aroma as the fish bakes.
Mushrooms
Contribute savory, earthy flavor and moisture as they cook.

The step that matters

Covering and basting during the bake. Covering with greased paper traps steam so the thin fish cooks gently without drying out, while occasional basting moistens the surface and keeps the crumbs from scorching.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (whiting, pepper, bread, butter, white wine, mushroom):

  1. Thymefits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Garlicfits less well
  4. Marjoramfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against whiting, pepper, bread, butter, white wine, mushroom. 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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