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Observations on Dressing Fish

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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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 ↓

Observations on Dressing Fish

Ingredients

Directions

  1. If the fish is not cleaned, clean it thoroughly.

  2. For boiling, add some salt and a little vinegar to the water for firmness.

  3. If using cod, whiting, or haddock, salt them and keep for a day for better flavor.

  4. Soak fresh-water fish in strong saltwater to remove muddy smell and taste.

  5. Put the fish in cold water and heat gently to avoid breaking the outer part.

  6. For crimp fish, place in boiling water, then add a little cold water to reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes.

  7. Check if the fish is ready by seeing if it leaves the bone.

  8. Remove the fish immediately from the water to prevent it from becoming woolly.

  9. Keep the fish warm by placing it on a plate over the kettle and covering it with a clean cloth.

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. Fish + vinegartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,036 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

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

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