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Whitings Fhied

Fried whitings coated in breadcrumbs and served with shrimp sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Whiting and sauce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 236 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Whitings Fhied

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Skin the whitings and turn the tails into the mouths, securing them with a small skewer.

  2. Beat the egg and dip the whitings in it, then coat them with breadcrumbs.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat the lard in a pan and fry the whitings quickly until golden brown.

  2. Serve the fried whitings with shrimp sauce in a boat.

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. Whiting + saucetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together236 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Whiting + shrimptop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together65 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Shrimp + saucetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,423 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Egg + shrimptop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,829 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).

  5. Whiting + eggtop 37% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together340 recipes

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

What each ingredient does

Whitings
Provide the flesh that is cooked through while the coating turns crisp.
Egg
Binds the breadcrumbs to the fish so the coating adheres during frying.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating that browns in the hot fat.
Lard
Conducts heat to brown the coating and adds rich flavour.

The step that matters

Frying quickly in hot lard. Fish is delicate and cooks fast. Hot fat browns the breadcrumb coating before the flesh dries out, while a cool pan lets the coating absorb grease and turn 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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