Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Frying Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fish
Wash and dry the fish with a clean soft cloth an hour before cooking.
Wet the fish with ale or milk.
Shake the fish in a floured cloth, or beat the egg and spread it evenly over the fish, then sprinkle the fish with bread crumbs or raspings.
Fry and drain
Heat the butter or lard in a frying pan until it is melted and begins to smoke.
Fry the fish for about 5 minutes until brown on one side.
Carefully turn the fish using a fork and fish slice, then fry the other side for another 4-5 minutes until cooked through.
Remove the fish and place it on a drainer, then on a soft cloth, turning it to dry the fat from both sides.
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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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,668 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,488 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fish
- Provides the main body of the dish, cooking through in the hot fat while the coating crisps.
- Butter
- Conducts heat to brown the fish and adds rich flavour to the crust.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden coating that protects the fish during frying.
- Flour
- Dries the surface so the coating adheres and browns evenly.
- Egg
- Binds the coating so the crumbs stick to the fish.
The step that matters
Heating the fat until it smokes before adding the fish. Fat that is hot enough sears the coating quickly, creating a crisp crust that seals in moisture. If the fat is too cool, the fish absorbs grease and turns soggy.
“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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