Why it works: Fish and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,488 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
To Bake Fish
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a gentle oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
Wrap the small fish in oiled or buttered paper.
Place the fish in a deep dish, with or without liquid.
Cover the fish with buttered paper to keep it moist.
Bake
For large fish such as salmon or conger eel, bake over halved potatoes.
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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Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,488 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Fish + potatotop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together134 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, helping keep the fish from drying out while it bakes.
- Potatoes
- Halved potatoes raise large fish off the dish base, so it cooks more evenly.
The step that matters
Covering the fish with buttered paper. Paper traps steam around the fish, so it stays moist. Without a cover, the surface can dry out and toughen before the centre is cooked through.
“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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